
Glass i6^-'(^ 
Book ^^^ ■ 



REMARKS UPON THE MAP. 

The accompanying map, is substantially that of Prof. Tuomey, pub- 
lished in 1858. The additions and corrections now introduced may be 
briefly stated, as follows: 1st, The addition of several small patches of 
coal-bearing rocks in Jackson and Madison counties; 2dj The extension 
of Wills' Valley into Georgia ; Sd, The increased territory of the Coosa 
coal field ; 4th, Correction of the southwestern outline of the Warrior 
coal basin, east and southeast of Tuscaloosa; 5th, The omission of Sub- 
Carboniferous on the eastern edge of the Cahaba coal fleld— the field being 
cut off on that side by a fault which brings the Lower Silurian up to the 
level of the coal ; 6th, The changing of the eastern limit Of the Silurian 
of Coosa Valley, so as to include the Acadian (Ocoee Slates and Conglom- 
erates), heretofore placed with the Metamorphic Rocks ; 7th, Some slight 
changes in the western, southwestern, and southern limits of the Meta- 
morphic area; 8th, Change in the width of the belt of Drift, between 
the Paleozoic and Cretaceous formations. As has been stated in the 
Geological Section, the pebbles, sand, &c., of the Drift cover the greater 
part of the lower half of the State south and southwest of the Paleozoic 
formations: for this reason this formation is not laid down upon the 
map, except along the belt indicate*!, where the beds are of exceptional 
thickness. But for the fact that the line of junction of the Paleozoic and 
Cretaceous formations, is so completely obscured by this accumulation of 
Drift materials, that it has not yet been accurately traced out, even this 
belt of Drift might be omitted in the coloring of the map. 9th, Change 
in the boundary between Cretaceous and Tertiary, near the Mississippi 
line. In the present map this boundary is some twenty miles or more, 
further north than it is in Tuomey's map ; 10th, The Port Hudson group 
of the Quartenary, is shown in the lower part of the State. The other 
Quartenary deposits, except the belt of Drift spoken of above, are not 
indicated on the map, for lack of the necessary data. 

Finally, on account of the small scale of the map, no attempt has been 
made to show the position of the various subdivisions of the geological 
formations, but one color is made to serve for the whole Silurian, another 
for the Cretaceous, and a third for the Tertiary. The map, therefore, like 
that of Prof. Tuomey, is intended to show, only the most iinportanfc 
geological features of the State. 

The iron ore beds, located on the map, are mostly those which supply 
or have supplied furnaces or forges, and while they are fairly represented, 
no attempt has been made to give a complete list of the localities where 
iron ore occurs abundantly. It is found almost everywhere along the 
Silurian valleys. The coal mines are fully located, or very nearly so. In 
this connection, surface diggings have not been noticed, and only those 
localities are given where coal mining is done on a large scale. Coal has 
been worked on a small scale in thousands of places in this State, but 
there are only a few mines. As regards gold and copper, only those 
points are indicated, where machinery, crushing stamps, etc., are used, 
or where extensive mining operations have been carried on, and this list 
may not be complete. Surface diggings not noticed. 

E. A. S. 



Hand Book OF ALABAMA: 



A COMPLETE INDEX TO THE STATE; 

WITH A GEOLOGICAL MAT, 



-AND AN- 



APPENDIX OF USEFUL TABLES. 

By SAFFOLD BERNEY, 



"CoAii whicli Is the source of Power, and 
Iron which Is the source of Strength."— i>r. Li/on Plat/fair, 



Price— Paper, $1.80; Half-Law, $2.00. 

SENT POST-PAID ON RECEIPT OV PKIOE. 



MOBILE REGISTER PRINT. 

1878. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1878, 

By SATFOLD BERNEY, 
In tlie Office of tlie Librarian of COngi-ess, at Washington. 

5 Je1907 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



GEOiiOGiCAL Map of Alabama, with accompanying Remabks. 
Constitution of Alabama. 

PAET FIEST. 

Origin of the name, Alabama— Geography ; and Historical Chro- 
nology of the State ; with an account of the Indians once living 
here 1-11 

PAET SEOOKD. 

Government of Alabama; its State and County Organization ; Polit- 
ical Divisions ; and Laws relating to Elections and the Holding 
of Office , 12-26 

PAET THIED. 

Synopsis of the Tax Laws, and other Important Statutes of Ala- 
bama , 27-43 

PAET FOUETH. 

The Free Public School System of. Alabama; its Normal Schools; 
Universities and Colleges....... 44-53 

PAET FIFTH. 
The State Institutions of Alabama 54-72 

PAET SIXTH. 

Sketches of the Four Principal Cities of Alabama, and of Birming- 
ham, and Cullman 73-88 

PAET SEVEI^TH. 

The Water Transportation Lines, and Projected Canals of Ala- 
bama 89-113 

PAET EIGHTH. 

The Railroads of Alabama; and the Postal, Telegraph, and Ex- 
press Facilities of the State 114-128 

PAET NINTH. 
Outline of the Geology of Alabama 129-196 

PAET TENTH. 
The Soils of Alabama 197-220 



TABLE OP CONTENTS. 

PAET ELEVENTH. 
The Forests of Alabama, and their Products 221-236 

PART TWELFTH. 

The Grasses and other Forage Plants of Alabama— Indigenous, Nat- 
uralized, and Cultivated ^ 236-247 

PAET THIETEENTH. 

The Agricultural Divisions, Capabilities, and Advantages of 
Alabama 248-255 

PAET rOUETEENTH. 

The Coal and Coal Mines, Iron and Iron Works of Alabama 266-267 

PAET FIFTEENTH. 

Cotton Manufacturing in Alabama 268-278 

PAET SIXTEENTH. 
Miscellaneous Information.... 279-283 

PAET SEVENTEENTH. 

The Climate of Alabama, and its Adaptation to Health and 
Comfort 284-294 

Conclusion. 295-297 

Appendix 298-330 

Index „331-338 



OOlSTSTITUTIOlSr 



STA.TE OF ^IjA.BA.1s^J^. 



PREAMBLE. 



We, the people of the State of Alabama, in order to establish justice, 
insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote 
the general welfare, and secure to ourselves and to our posterity, life, 
liberty and property, profoundly grateful to Almighty God for this ines- 
timable right, and invoking His favor and guidance, do ordain and 
establish the following constitution and form of government for the 
State of Alabama : 

ARTICLE I. 

DBCIiAKATION OF RIGHTS. 

That the great, general and essential principles of liberty and free 
government may be recognized and established, we declare : 

Section 1. That all me?i are equally free and independent; that they 
are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among 
these are life, liber'y, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Sec. 2. That all persons resident in this State, born in the United 
States, or naturalized, or who shall have legally declared their intention 
to become citizens of the United States, are hereby declared citizens of 
the State of Alabama, possessing equal, civil and political rights. 

Sec. 3. That all political power is inherent in the people, and all free 
governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their bene- 
fit ; and that, therefore, they have, at all times, an inalienable and inde- 
feasible right to change their form of government, in such manner as 
they may deem expedient. 

Sec. 4. That no religion shall be established by law; that no prefer- 
ence shall be given by law to any religious sect, society, denomination, or 
mode of worship ; that no one shall be compelled by law to attend any 
place of worship, nor to pay any tithes, taxes, or other rate, for building 
or repairing any place of worship, or for maintaining any minister or 
ministry; that no religious test shall be required as a qualification to any 
oflSce or public trust, under this State ; and that the civil rights, privi. 
leges and capacities of any citizen, shall not be in any manner affected by 
his religious principles. 

*Became Operative December 6tli, 1875. 



[x] 

Sec. 5. That any citizen may speak, write and publish his sentiments 
on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. 

Sec. 6. That the people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers 
and possessions, from unreasonable seizures or searches ; and that no war- 
rant shall issue to search any place, or to seize any person or thing with- 
out probable cause, supported by oath or atflrmation. 

Sec. 7. That in ali criminal prosecutions, the accused has a right to be 
heard by himself and counsel, or either; to demand the nature and cause 
of the accusation; to have a copy thereof; to be confronted by the witnesses 
against him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his 
favor; and in all prosecutions by indictment a speedy public trial by an 
inlpartial jury of the county or district in which the offense was com- 
mitted ; and that he shall not be compelled to give evidence against him- 
self, nor be deprived of his life, liberty or property, but by due process of 
law. 

Sec. 8. That no person shall be accused or arrested, or detained, except 
in cases ascertained by law. and according tq the forms which the same 
has prescribed ;Cand no person shali be punished but by virtue of a law 
established and promulgated prior to the offense, and legally applied. 

Sec. 9. That no person shall, for any indictable offense, be proceeded 
against criminally, by information, except in cases arising in the militia 
and volunteer forces when in actual service, or by leave of the court, for 
misfeasance, raisde > eanor, extortion and oppression in office, otherwise 
than is provided in this constitution ; Provided, That in cases of petit 
larceny, assault, assault and battery, affray, unlawful assemblies, 
vagrancy and other misdemeanors, the General Assembly may, by law, 
dispense with a grand jury, and authorize such prosecutions and proceed- 
ings before justices of the peace, or such inferior courts as may be by 
law established. 

Sec. 10. That no person shall, for the same offense, be twice put in 
jeopardy of life or limb. 

Sec. 11. That no person shall be debarred from prosecuting or defend- 
ing, before any tribunal in this State, by himself or counsel, any civil 
cause or proceeding to which he is a party. 

Sec. 12. That the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate. 

Sec. 13. That in prosecutions for the publication of papers investiga- 
ting the official conduct of officers, or men in public capacity, or when 
the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof 
may be given in evidence; and that in all indictments for libel, the jury 
shall have the right to determine the law and the facts under the direct- 
ion of the court. 

Sec. 14. That all courts shali be open, and that every person, for any 
injury done him in his lands, goods, person or reputation, shall have a 
remedy by due process of law; and right and justice shall be adminis- 
tered without sale, denial or delay. 

Sec, 15. That the State of Alabama shall never be made defendant in 
any court of law or equity. 

Sec. 16. That excessive fines shall not be imposed, nor cruel or 
unusual punishments inflicted. 

Sec. 17. That all persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by suffi- 



oient sureties, except for capital offenses when the proof is evident or 
the presumption great ; and that excessive bail shall not, in any case, be 
required. 

Sec. 18. That the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be 
suspended by the authorities of this State. 

Sec. 19, That treason against the State shall consist only in levying 
war against it, or adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort ; 
and that no person shall be convicted of treason except on the testimony 
of two witnesses to the same overt act, or his own confession in open 
court. 

Sec, 20, That no person shall be attainted of treason by the General 
Assembly; and that no conviction shall work corruption of blood or 
forfeiture of estate. 

Sec. 21. That no person shall be imprisoned for debt. 

Sec. 22. That no power of suspending laws shall be exercised, except 
by the General Assembly. 

Sec. 23. That no ex post facto law, nor any law impairing the obliga- 
tion of contracts, or making any irrevocable grants of special privileges 
or immunities, shall be passed by the General Assembly. 

Sec. 24, That the exercise of the right of eminent domain shall never 
be abridged or so construed as to prevent the General Assembly from 
taking the property and franchises of incoi;porated companies and subject- 
ing them to public use the same as individuals. But private property 
shall not be taken for or applied to public use, unless just compensation 
be first made therefor ; nor shall private property be taken for private 
use, or for the use of corporations, other than municipal, without the 
consent of the owners ; Provided, however, that the General Assembly 
may, by law, secure to persons or corporations the right of way over the 
lands of other persons or corpora' ions, and by general laws provide for 
and regulate the exercise by persons and corporations of the rights 
herein reserved ; but just compensation shall, in all cases, be first made 
to the owner; And provided, That the right of eminent domain shall 
not be so construed as to allow taxation or forced subscription for the 
benefit of railroads or any other kind of corporations other than munic- 
ipal, or for the benefit of any individual or association. 

Sec, 25. That all navigable waters shall remain forever public high- 
ways, free to the citizens of the State, and of the United States, without 
tax, impost or toll, and that no tax, toll, impost or wharfage shall be 
demanded or received from the owner of any merchandise or commodity, 
for the use of the shores, or any wharf erected on the shores, or in, or 
over the waters of any navigable stream, unless the same be expressly 
authorized by law. 

Sec. 26. That the citizens have a right, in a peaceable manner, to 
assemble together for the common good, and to apply to those invested 
with the power of government for redress of grievances, or other pur- 
poses, by petition, address or remonstrance. 

Sec. 27. That every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of 
himself and the State. 

Sec. 28. That no standing army shall be kept up without the consent 
of the General Assembly ; and, in that case, no appropriation for its 



[xiij 

silpport shall be made for a longer term than one year ; and the military 
shall, in all cases, and at all times, be in strict subordination to the civil 
power. 

Sec. 29. That no soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any 
house, without the consent of the owner ; nor in time of war, but in a 
manner to be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 30. That no title of nobility, or hereditary distinction, privilege, 
honor or emolument, shall ever be granted or conferred in this State; 
and that no office shall be created, the appointment to which shall be 
for a longer time ihan during good behavior. 

Sec. 31. That immigration shall be encouraged, emigration shall not 
be prohibited, and no citizen shall be exiled. 

Sec. 32. That temporary absence from the State shall not cause a 
forfeiture of residence once obtained. 

Sec. 33. That no form of slavery shall exist in this State, and there 
shall be no involuntary servitude, otherwise than for the punishment of 
crime, of which the party shall have been duly convicted. 

Sec. 34. The right of suffrage shall be protected by laws regulating 
elections, and prohibiting, under adequate penalties, all undue influences 
from power, bribery, tumult, or other improper conduct. 

Sec. 35. The people of this State accept as final the established fact 
that from the Federal Union there can be no secession of any State. 

Sec. 36. Foreigners who are or may hereafter become hona fide resi- 
dents of this State, shall enjoy the same rights in respect to the 
possession,, enjoyment and inheritance of property, as native born 
citizens. 

Sec. 37. That the sole object and only legitimate end of government is 
to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty and property; and 
when the government assumes other functions it is usurpation and 
oppression. 

Sec. 38. No educational or property qualification for suffrage or office, 
nor any restraint upon the same on account of race, color or previous 
condition of servitude, shall be made by law'. 

Sec. 39. That this enumeration of certain rights shall not impair or 
deny others retained by the people. 

ARTICLE II. 

STATE AND COUNTY BOUNDARIES. 

Section 1. The boundaries of this State are established and declared 
to be as follows— that is to say: Beginning at the point where the 31st 
degree of north latitude crosses the Perdido river; thence east to the 
western boundary line of the State of Georgia, thence along said line to 
the southern boundary line of the State of Tennessee; thence west along 
the southern boundary line of the State of Tennessee, crossing the 
Tennessee river, and on to the second intersection of said river by said 
line; thence up said river to the mouth of Big Bear Creek ; thence by a 
direct line to the northwest corner of Washington county in this State, 
as originally formed ; thence southerly along the line of the State of 
Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico; thence eastwardly, including all 



txiiif 

islands within six leagues of the shore, to the Perdido river ; thence up 
the said river to the beginning. 

Sec. 2. The boundaries of the several counties of this State, as hereto- 
fore established by law, are hereby ratified and confirmed. The General 
Assembly may, by a vote of two-thirds of both houses thereof, arrange 
and designate boundaries for the several counties of this State, which 
boundaries shall not be altered, except by a like vote ; but no new 
counties shall be hereafter formed of less extent than six hundred square 
miles, and no existing county shall be reduced to less extent than six 
hundred square miles, and no new county shall be formed which does 
not contain a sufficient number of inhabitants to entitle it to one represen- 
tative, under the ratio of representation existing at the time of its forma- 
tion, and leave the county or counties from which it is taken with the 
required number of inhabitants entitling such county or counties to 
separate representation. 

ARTICLE III. 

DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS OF GOVERNMENT. 

Section 1. The powers of the government of the State of Alabama 
shall be divided into three distinct departments, each of which shall be 
confided to a separate body of magistracy, to- wit: Those which are 
legislative to one; those which are executive to another; and those 
which are judicial to another. 

Sec. 2. No person or collection of persons, being of one of those 
departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging to either of 
the others, except in the instances hereinafter expressly directed or 
permitted. 

ARTICLE IV. 

liEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 

Section 1. The legislative power of this State shall be vested in a 
General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and House of 
Representatives. 

Sec. 2. The style of the laws of this State shall be, " Be it enacted by 
the General Assembly of Alabama." Each law shall contain but one sub- 
ject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title, except general appro- 
priation bills, general revenue bills and bills adopting a code, digest or 
revision of statutes; and no law shall be revived, amended, or the pro- 
visions thereof extended or conferred by reference to its title only ; but 
so much thereof as is revived, amended, extended or conferred, shall 
be re-enacted and published at length. 

Sec. 3. Senators and Representatives shall bq elected by the qualified 
electors on the first Monday in August, 1876, and one-half of the sena- 
tors and all the representatives shall be elected every two years thereafter, 
unless the General Assembly shall change the time of holding elections. 
The terms of the office of the senators shall be four years, and that of the 
representatives two years, commencing on the day after the general 
election, except as otherwise provided in this constitution. 



Sec. 4. Senators shall be at least 27 years of age, and representatives 
21 years of age ; they shall have been citizens and inhabitants of this 
State for three years, and inhabitants of their respective counties or 
districts one year next before their election, if such county or district 
shall have been so loug established, but if not, then of the county or 
district from which the same shall have been taken ; and they shall 
reside in their respective counties or districts during their terms of service. 

Seo. 5. The General Assembly shall meet biennially at the capitol, in 
the senate chamber and in the hall of the house of representativ^es, 
(except in cases of destruction of the capitol, or epidemics, when the 
Governor may convene them at such place in the State as he may deem 
best) — on the day specified in this constitution, or on such other day as 
may be prescribed by law, and shall not remain in session longer than 
sixty days at the first session held under this constitution, nor longer 
than fifty days at any subsequent session. 

SiiC. 6. The pay of the members of the General Assembly shall be 
four dollars per day, and ten cents per mile in going to and returning 
from the seat of government, to be computed by the nearest usual route 
traveled. 

Sec. 7. The General Assembly shall consist of not more than thirty- 
three senators, and not more than one hundred members of the house of 
representatives, to be apportioned among the several districts and coun- 
ties as prescribed in this constitution. 

Sec. 8. The Senate, at the beginning of each regular session and at 
such other times as may be necessary, shall elect one of its members 
president thereof, and the house of representatives, at the beginning of 
each regular session, shall elect one of its members as speaker; and the 
president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives 
shall hold their offices respectively until their successors are elected and 
qualified. Each house shall choose its own officers, and shall judge of 
the election, returns and qualifications of its members. 

Sec. 9. At the general election in tbe year 1876, senators shall be 
elected in the even numbered districts, to serve for two years, and in the 
odd numbered districts to serve for four years, so that thereafter one-half 
the senators may be chosen biennially. Members of the house of repre- 
sentatives shall be elected at the general election every second year. The 
time of service of senators and representatives shall begin on the day 
after their election, except the tei'ms of those elected in 1876, which shall 
not begin until the term of the present members shall have expired- 
Whenever a vacancy shall occur in either house, the Governor for the 
time being shall issue a writ of election to fill such vacancy for the 
remainder of the term. 

Sec. 10. A majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do 
business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may 
compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under 
such penalties as each house may provide. 

Sec. 11. Each house shall have power to determine the rules of its 
proceedings, and punish its members or other persons for contempt or 
disorderly behavior in its presence, to enforce obedience to its process, 
to protect its members against violence, or oflFers of bribes or corrupt 



[XV] 

solicitation, and with the concurrence of two-thirds of either house to 
expel a member, but*not a second time for the same cause; and shall 
have all the powers necessary for the legislature of a free State. 

Sec. 12. A member of either house expelled for corruption, shall not 
thereafter be eligible to either house: and punishment for contempt or 
disorderly behavior, shall not bar an indictment for the same offense. 

Sec. 13. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings and cause 
the same to be published immediately after its adjournment, excepting 
such parts as in its judgment may require secrecy; and the yeas and nays 
of the members of either house on any question shall, at the desire of one- 
tenth of the members present, be entered on the journals. Any member ■ 
of either house shall have liberty to dissent from or protest against any 
act or resolution which he may think injurious to the public or an 
individual, and have the reasons for his dissent entered on the journals. 

Sec. 14. Members of the General Assembly shall in all cases, except 
treason, felony, violation of their oath of oflBce and breach of the peace, 
be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the sessions of their 
respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same, and for 
any speech or debate in either house they shall not be questioned in any 
other place. 

Sec. 15. The doors of each house shall be open, except on such occa- 
sions as in the opinion of the house may require secrecy. 

Sec. 16. Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, 
adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in 
which they may be sittitig. 

Sec. 17. No senator or representative shall, during the term for 
which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any civil office of 
profit, under this State, which shall have been created or the emolu- 
ments of which shall have been increased during such term, except 
such ofQce as may be filled by election by the people. 

Sec. 18. No person hereafter convicted of embezzlement of public 
money, bribery, perjury, or other infamous crime, shall be eligible to 
the General Assembly, or capable of holding any office of trust or profit 
in this State. 

Sec. 19. No law shall be passed except by bill, and no bill shall be so 
altered or amended on its passage through either house as to change its 
original purpose. 

Sec. 20. No bill shall become a law until it shall have been referred 
to a committee of each house and returned therefrom. 

Sec 21. Every bill shall be read on three different days in each house 
—and no bill shall become a law unless on its final passage it be read at 
length and the vote be taken by yeas and nays, the hames of the mem- 
bers voting for and against the same be entered on the journals, and a 
majority of each house be recorded thereon as voting in its favor, except 
as otherwise provided in this constitution. 

Sec. 22. No amendment to bills by one house shall be concurred in 
by the other except by a vote of a majority thereof, taken by yeas and 
nays, and the names of those voting for and against recorded upon the 
journals ; and reports of committees of conference shall in like manner 
be adopted in each house. 



[xvi] 

Sec. 23. No special or local law shall be enacted for the benefit of 
individuals or corporations in cases which are or can be provided for by 
a general law, or where the relief sought can be given by any court of 
this State. Nor shall the operation of any general law be suspended by 
the General Assembly for the benefit of any individual, corporation or 
association. 

Sec. 24, No local or special law shall be passed on a subject which 
cannot be provided for by a general law, unless notice of the intention 
to apply therefor shall have been published in the locality where the 
matter or things to be affected may be situated, which notice shall be at 
least twenty days prior to the introduction into the General Assembly of 
such bill— the evidence of such notice having been given, shall be exhib- 
ited to the General Assembly before such act shall be passed ; Provided, 
That the provisions of this constitution as to special or local laws, shall 
not apply to public or educational institutions of, or in this State, nor to 
industrial, mining, immigration or manufacturing corporations or 
interests, or corporations for constructing canals, or improving naviga- 
ble rivers and harbors of this State. 

Sec. 25. The General Assembly shall pass general laws, under which 
local and private interests shall be provided for and protected. 

Sec. 26. The General Assembly shall have no power to authorize 
lotteries or gift enterprises for any purpose, and it shall pass laws to 
prohibit the sale of lottery or gift enterprise tickets, or tickets in any 
scheme in the nature of a lottery, in this State, and all acts or parts of 
acts heretofore passed by the General Assembly of this State, authoriz- 
ing a lottery or lotteries, and all acts amendatory thereof or supplemen- 
tal thereto, are hereby avoided. 

Sec 27. The presiding officer of each house shall, in the presence of 
the house over which he presides, sign all bills and joint resolutions 
passed by the General Assembly, after the titles have been publicly read 
immediately before signing, and the fact of signing shall be entered on 
the journal. 

Sec. 28. The General Assembly shall prescribe by law the number, 
duties and compensation of the officers and employes of each house, and 
no payment shall be made from the State Treasury, or be in any way 
authorized to any person, except to an acting officer or employe, elected 
or appointed in pursuance of law. 

Sec. 29. No bill shall be passed giving any extra compensation to any 
public officer, servant or employe, agent or contractor, after the services 
shall have been rendered, or contract made; nor shall any officer of the 
State bind the State to the payment of any sum of money but by author- 
ity of law. 

Sec 30. All stationery, printing, paper and fuel used in the legisla- 
tive and other departments of government, shall be furnished, and the 
printing, binding and distribution of laws, journals, department reports, 
and all other printing and binding, and repairing and furnishing the 
halls and rooms used for the meetings of the General Assembly and its 
committees, shall be performed under contract, to be given to the lowest 
responsible bidder below a maximum price, and under such regulations 
as shall be prescribed by law ; no member or officer of any department 



[xvii] 

of the government shall be in any way interested in such contracts, and 
all such contracts shall be subject to the approval of the Governor, State 
Auditor and State Treasurer. 

Sec. 31. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of 
Representatives, but the Senate may propose amendments as in other 
bills. 

Sec. 32. The general appropriation bill shall embrace nothing but 
appropriations for the ordinary expenses of the executive, legislative and 
judicial departments of the State, interest on the public debt and for the 
public schools; all other appropriations shall be made by separate bills, 
each embracing but one subject. 

Sec. 33. No money shall be paid out of the treasury except upon 
appropriations made by law, and on warrant drawn by the proper oflQcer 
in pursuance thereof, and a regular statement and account of receipts 
and expenditures of all public moneys shall be published annually in 
such manner as may be by law directed. 

Sec. 34. No appropriation shall be made to any charitable or educa- 
tional institution not under the absolute control of the State, other than 
Normal schools established by law for the professional training of 
teachers for the public schools of the State, except bya vote of two-thirds 
of all the members elected to each house. 

Sec. 35. No act of the General Assembly shall authorize the invest- 
ment of any trust funds by executors, administrators, guardians and 
other trustees, in the bonds or stock, of any private corporation; and 
any such acts now existing are avoided, saving investments heretofore 
made. 

Sec. 36. The power to change the venue in civil and criminal causes 
is vested in the courts, to be exercised in such manner as shall be pro- 
vided by law. 

Sec. 37. When the General Assembly shall be convened in special 
session, there shall be no legislation upon subjects other than those des- 
ignated in the proclamation of the Governor calling such session. 

Sec. 38. No State office shall be continued or created for the inspect- 
ion or measuring of any merchandise, manufacture or commodity, but 
any county or municipality may appoint such officers, when authorized 
by law. 

Sec. 39. No act of the General Assembly changing the seat of govern- 
ment of the State, shall become a law until the same shall have been 
submitted to the qualified electors of the State at a general election, and 
approved by a majority of such electors voting upon the same, and such 
act shall specify the proposed new location. 

Sec. 40. A member of the General Assembly who shall corruptly 
solicit, demand or receive, or consent to receive, directly or indirectly, 
for himself or for another, from any company, corporation, or person, 
any money, office, appointment, employment, reward, thing of value or 
enjoyment, or of personal advantage, or promise thereof for his vote or 
oflfieial influence, or for withholding the same, or with an understanding, 
expressed or implied, that his vote or official action shall be in any way 
influenced thereby, or who shall solicit or demand any such money or 
other advantage, matter or thing aforesaid, for another, as the coneidera- 



[xviii] 

tion of his vote or official influence, or for withholding the same, or 
shall give or withhold his vote or influence in consideration of the pay- 
ment or promise of such money, advantage, matter or thing to another, 
shall be guilty of bribefy within the meaning of this constitution, and 
shall incur the disabilities provided thereby for such offense, and such 
additional punishment as is or shall be provided by law. 

Sec. 41. Any person who shall, directly or indirectly, otfer, give or 
promise any money or thing of value, testimonial, privilege or personal 
advantage to any executive or judicial officer, or member of the General 
Assembly to influence him in the performance of any of his public or 
official duties, shall be guilty of bribery, and be punished in such man- 
ner as shall be provided by law. 

Sec. 42. The ofTense of corrupt solicitation o.f members of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, or of public officers of this State, or of any municipal 
division thereof, and any occupation or practice of solicitation of such 
member or officers to influence their official action shall be defined by 
law, and shall be punished by fine and imprisonment. 

Sec. 43. A member of the General Assembly who has a personal or 
private interest in any measure or bill, proposed or pending before the 
General Assembly^ shall disclose the fact to the house of which he is a 
member, and shall not vote thereon. , 

Sec. 44 In all elections by the General Assembly, the members 
shall vote viva voce, and the votes shall be entered on the journals. 

Sec. 45. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to pass such 
laws as may be necessary and proper to decide differences by arbitrators, 
to be appointed by the parties who may choose that mode of adjustment. 

Sec. 46. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, at its first 
session after the ratification of this constitution, and within every subse- 
quent period of ten years, to make provision by law for the revision, 
digesting, and promulgation of the public statutes of this State of a 
general nature, both civil and criminal. 

Sec. 47. The General Assembly shall pass such penal laws as they 
may deem expedient to suppress the evil practice of dueling. 

Sec. 48. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to regulate by 
law the cases In which deductions shall be made from the salaries of 
public officers for neglect of duty in their official capacities, and the 
amount of such deductions. 

Sec. 49. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to require the 
several counties of this State to make adequate provision for the main- 
tenance of the poor 

Sec. 50. The General Assembly shall not have power to authorize 
any muncipal corporation to pass any laws inconsistent with the general 
laws of this State. 

Sec. 51. In the event of annexation of any foreign territory to this 
State, the General Assembly shall enact laws extending to the inhabi- 
tants of the acquired territory all the rights and privileges which may be 
required by the terms of the acquisition, anything in this constitution to 
the contrary notwithstanding. 

Sec. 52. The General Assembly shall not tax the property, real and 
personal, of the S'tate, counties or other municipal corporations, or eeme- 



[xixl 

teries; nor lots in incorporated cities or towns, or within one mile of any 
city or town, to th^ extent of one acre, nor lots one mile or more distant 
from such cities or towns, to the extent of five acres, with the buildings 
thereon, when the same are used exclusively for religious worship, for 
schools, or for purposes purely charitable ; nor such property, real or per- 
sonal, to an extent not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars in value, 
as may be used exclusively for agricultural or horticultural associations 
of a public character. 

Sec. 63. The General Assembly shall by law prescribe such rules and 
regulations as may be necessary to ascertain the value of personal and 
real property exempted from sale under legal process by this constitution, 
and to secure the same to the claimant thereof as selected. 

Sec. 54. The State shall not engage in works of internal improvement, 
nor lend money or its credit in aid of such ; nor shall the State be inter- 
ested in any private or corporate enterprise, or lend money or its credit to 
any individual, association or corporation. 

Sec. 55. The General Assembly shall have no power to authorize any 
county, city, town, or other subdivision of this State, to lend its credit, 
or to grant public money or thing of value in aid of, or to any individual, 
association or corporation whatsoever, or to become a stockholder in any 
such corporation, association or company, by issuing bonds or otherwise. 

Sec. 56. There can be no law of this State impairing the obligation of 
contracts by destroying or impairing the remedy for their enforcement; 
and the General Assembly shall have no power to revive any right or 
remedy which may have become barred by lapse of time or by any 
statute of this State. 

ARTICLE V. 

executive department. 

Section 1. The executive department shall consist of a Governor, 
Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Auditor, Attorney General and 
Superintendent of Education, and a Sheriff for each county. 

Sec. 2. The supreme executive power of this State shall be vested in 
a Chief Magistrate, who shall be styled "The Governor of the State of 
Alabama." 

Sec. 3. The Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Audi- 
tor and Attorney General sball be elected by the qualified electors of this 
State, at the same time and places appointed for the election of members 
of the General Assembly. 

Sec. 4. The returns of every election for Governor, Secretary of State, 
State Auditor, State Treasurer and Attorney General, shall be sealed up 
and transmitted by the returning oflScers to the seat of government, 
directed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall dur- 
ing the first week of the session to which said returns shall be made, 
open and publish them in the presence of both houses of the General 
Assembly in joint convention. The person having the highest number 
of votes for either of said offices shall be declared duly elected ; but if two 
or more shall have an equal and the highest number of votes for the 



jxxj 

sabae office, the General Assembly, by joint vote, without delay, shall 
choose one of said persons for said office. Contested elections for Gover- 
nor, Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Treasurer and Attorney 
General shall be determined by both houses of the General Assembly in 
such manner as may be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 5. The Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State 
Auditor and Attorney General shall hold their respective offices for the 
term of two years from the time of their installation in office and until 
their successors shall be elected and qualified. 

Sec. 6. The Governor shall be at least thirty years of age when 
elected, and shall have been a citizen of the United States ten years and 
a resident citizen of this State at least seven years next before the day of 
his election. 

Sec. 7. The Governor, Secretary of State, " State Treasurer, State 
Auditor and Attorney General shall reside at the seat of government of 
this State during the time they continue in office (except in case of epi- 
demics) ; and they shall receive compensation for their services, which 
shall be fixed by law, and which shall not be increased or diminished 
during the term for which they shall have been elected. » 

Sec. 8. The Governor shall take care that the laws be faithfully 
executed. 

Sec. 9. The Governor may require information in writing, under 
oath, from the officers of the executive department on any subject relat- 
ing to the duties of their respective offices; and he may at any time 
require information in writing, under oath, from all officers and mana- 
gers of State institutions, upon any subject relating to the condition, 
management and expenses of their respective offices and institutions; 
and any such officer or manager who makes a false report shall be guilty 
of perjury and punished accordingly. 

Sec. 10. The Governor may, by proclamation, on extraordinary occa- 
sions convene the General Assembly at the seat of government, or at a 
different place, if, since their last adjournment, that shall have become 
dangerous from an enemy or from infectious or contagious diseases ; and 
he shall state specifically in such proclamation each matter concerning 
which the action of that body is deemed necessary. 

Sec. 11. The Governor shall, from time to time, give to the General 
Assembly information of the fctate of the government, and recommend 
to their consideration such measures as he may deem expedient, and at 
the commencement of each session of the General Assembly, and at 
the close of his term of office, give information by written message of 
the condition of the State, and he shall account to the General Assembly 
as may be prescribed by law, for all moneys received and paid out by 
him from any funds subject to his order, with the vouchers therefor, and 
he shall at the commencement of each regular session present to the 
General Assembly estimates of the amount of money required to be 
raised by taxation for ail purposes. 

Sec. 12. The Governor shall have power to remit fines and forfeit- 
ures, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by law, and 
after conviction to grant reprieves, commutation of sentence and par- 
dons (except in cases of treason and impeachment) ; but pardons in 



fxxil 

6ases of murder, arson, burglary, rape, assault with intent to comniit 
rape, perjury, forgery, bribery and larceny, shall not relieve from civil 
and political disability unless speciflcaily expressed in the pardon. 
Upon conviction of treason, the Governor may suspend the execution of 
the sentence and report the same to the General Assembly at the next 
regular session, when the General Assembly shall either pardon, com- 
mute the sentence, direct its execution, or grant further reprieve. He 
shall communicate to the general Assembly at every regular session each 
case of reprieve, commutation or pardon granted, with his reasons there- 
for; stating the name and crime of the convict, the sentence, its date, 
and the date of the reprieve, commutation or pardon. 

Sec. 13. Every bill, which shall have passed both houses of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, shall be presented to the Governor ; if he approve, he 
shall sign it, but if not, he shall return it with his objections to that 
house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections 
at large upon the journals, and the house to which such bill shall be 
returned, shall proceed to reconsider it; if after such reconsideration a 
majority of the whole number elected to that house, shall vote for the 
passage of such bill, it shall be sent with the objections, to the other 
house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered; if apprpved by a 
majority of the whole number elected to that house, it shall become a 
law ; but in such cases, the vote of both houses shall be determined by 
yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for or against the 
bill, shall be entered upon the journals of each house respectively; if 
any bill shall not be returned by the Governor within five days (Sundays 
excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a 
law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the General Assembly 
by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a 
law. And every order, vote, or resolution, to which the concurrence of 
both houses may be necessary (except questions of adjournment, and of 
bringing on elections by the two houses, and of amending this constitu- 
tion,) shall be presented to the Governor, and before the same shall take 
eflect be approved by him, or being disapproved shall be repassed by 
both houses, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case 
of a bill. 

Sec. 14. The Governor shall have power to disapprove of any item or 
items of any bill making appropriations of money, embracing distinct 
items, and the part or parts uf the bill approved- shall be the law, and 
the item or items of appropriations disapproved shall be void, unless 
repassed according to the rules and limitations prescribed for the passage 
of other bills over the Executive veto, and he shall, in writing, state 
speciflcaily the item or items he disapproves. 

Sec. 15. In case of the impeachment of the Governor, his removal 
from office, death, refusal to qualify, resignation, absence from the State, 
or other disability, the President of the Senate shall exercise all the 
power and authority appertaining to the office of Governor, until the 
time appointed for the election of Governor shall arrive, or until the 
Governor who is absent or impeached, shall return or be acquitted, or 
other disability be removed, and if during such vacancy in the office of 
Governor, the President of the Senate shall be impep.ched, removed 



from office, refuse to qualify, die, resign, be absent from the State, or be 
under any other disability, the Speaker of the House of Representatives 
shall in like manner administer the Government. If the Governor 
shall be absent from the State over twenty days, the Secretary of State 
shall notify the President of the Senate, who shall enter upon the duties 
of Governor, and if the Governor and President of the Senate shall both 
be absent from the State over twenty days, the Secretary of State shall 
notify the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and in such case he 
shall enter upon and discharge the duties of Governor, until the return 
of the Governor or President of the Senate. 

Sec. 16. The President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of 
Representatives shall during the time they respectively administer the 
government, receive the same compensation which the Governor would 
have received if he had been employed in the duties of his office; Pro- 
vided, That if the General Assembly shall be in session during such 
absence, they, or either of them, shall receive no compensation as mem- 
bers of the General Assembly while acting as Governor. 

Sec. 17. No person shall, at one and the same time hold the office of 
Governor of this State and any other office, civil or military, either 
under this. State, the United States, or any other State or government, 
except as otherwise provided in this constitution. 

Sec. 18. The Governor shall be Commander-in-Chief of the militia 
and volunteer forces of the Scate, except when they shall be called into 
the service of the United States, and he may call out the same to execute 
the laws, suppress insurrection and repel invasion ; but he need not 
command in person, unless directed to do so by a resolution of the 
General Assembly, and when acting in the service of the United States 
he shall appoint his staff and the General Assembly shall fix his rank. 

Sec. 19. No person shall be eligible to the office of Secretary of State, 
State Treasurer, State Auditor, or Attorney General, unless he shall 
have been a citizen of the United States at least seven years, and shall 
have resided in this State at least five years next preceding his election, 
and shall be at least twenty-five years oW when elected. 

Sec. 20. There shall be a great seal of the State, which shall be used 
officially by the Governor; and the seal now in use shall continue to be 
used until another shall have been adopted by the General Assembly. 
The said seal shall be called the " Great Seal of the State of Alabama." 

Sec. 21. The Secretary of State shall be the custodian of the seal of 
the State, and shall authenticate therewith all official acts of the Govern- 
or, his approval of laws and resolutions excepted. He shall keep a reg- 
ister of the official acts of the Governor, and when necessary shall 
attest them, and lay copies of same, together with copies of all papers 
relative thereto, before either House of the General Assembly, whenever 
required to do so, and shall perform such other duties as may be pre- 
scribed by law. 

Sec. 22. All grants and commissions shall be issued in the name and 
by the authority of the State of Alabama, sealed with the great seal, 
signed by the Governor and countersigned by the Secretary of State. 

Sec. 28. Should the office of Secretary of Sate, State Treasurer, State 
Auditor, Attorney General or Superintendent of Education become 



[xxiii] 

vacant, for any of the causes specified in section fifteen of this article, 
the Governor shall fill the vacancy until the disability is removed or a 
successor elected and qualified. 

8ro. 24. The State Trea'^urer, State Auditor, and Attorney General, 
shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by law. The State 
Treasurer and State Auditor shall every year, at a time the General 
Assembly may fix, make a full and complete report to the Governor, 
showing all receipts and disbursements of revenue, of every character, 
all claims audited, and paid by the State, by items, and all taxes and 
revenue collected and paid into the treasury, and from what sources, 
and they shall make reports oftener on any matter pertaining to their 
oflRce, if required by the Governor, or the General Assembly. 

Sec. 25 The State Auditor, State Treasurer, and Secretary of State shall 
not, after the expiration of the terms of those now in office, receive to 
their use any fees, costs, perquisites of rfflce, or compensation other than 
their salaries as prescribed by law; and all fees that may be payable by 
law. for any service performed by either of such officers, shall be paid in 
advance into the State Treasury, 

Sec. 26. A Sheriff shall be elected in each county by the qualified 
electors thereof, who shall hold his office for the term of four years, unless 
sooner removed, and shall be ineligible to such office as his own. successor ; 
Provided, That sheriffs elected on the first Monday in August, 1877, or at 
such other time as may be prescribed by law for the election in that 
year, shall hold their offices for the term of three years, and until their 
successors shall bf^ elected and qualified. In the year 1880. at the general 
election for members to the General Assembly, sheriffs shall be elected 
for four years as herein provided. Vacancies in the office of sheriff shall 
be filled by the Governor, as in other cases, and the person appointed 
shall continue in office until the next general election in the county for 
sheriff, as provided by law. 

ARTICLE VI. 

I 

JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 

Section 1. The judicial power of the State shall be vested in the 
Senate, sitting as a court of impeachment, a supreme court, circuit 
courts, chancery courts, courts of probate, such inferior courts of law 
and equity, to consist of not more than five members, as the General 
Assembly may from time to tirne establish, and such persons as may be 
by law invested with powers of a judicial nature. 

Sec. 2. Except in cases? otherwise directed in the constitution, the 
supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction only, which shall be co- 
extensive with the State, under such restrictions and reeulations. not 
repugnant to this constitution, as may from time to time be prescribed 
by law; Provided. That said court shall have power to issue writs of 
injunction, habeas corpus, quo-warranto, and such other remedial and 
original writs as may be necessary to give it a general superintendence 
and control of inferior jurisdictions. 

Sec. 3. The supreme court shall be held at the seat of government, 
but if that shall have become dangerous from any cause, it may adjourn 
to a^differeut place. 



[xxivj 

Sec 4, The State shall be divided by the General Assembly into con- 
venient circuits, not to exceed eight in number, unless increased by a 
vote of two-thirds of the members of each house of the General Assem- 
bly, and no circuit shall contain less than three nor more than twelve 
counties, and for each circuit there shall be chosen a judge, who shall for 
one year next prpceding his election and during his continuance in 
oflBce reside in the circuit for which he is elected. 

Sec. 5. The circuit court shall have original jurisdiction in all mat- 
ters, civil and criminal, within the State, not otherwise excepted in the 
constitution; but in civil cases only when the matter or sum in 
controversy exceeds fifty dollars. 

Sec. 6. A circuit court shall be held in each county in the State at 
least twice in every year; and the judges of the several circuits may 
hold court for each other when they deem it expedient, and shall do so 
when directed by law; Provided, That the judges of the several circuit 
courts shall have power to issue writs of injunction returnable into 
courts of chancery. 

Sec. 7. The General Assembly shall have power to establish a court 
or courts of chancery, with original and appellate jurisdiction. The 
State shall be divided by the General Assembly into convenient chan- 
cery divisions, not exceeding three in number, unless an increase shall 
be made by a vote of two-thirds of each house of the General Assembly, 
taken by yeas. and nays and entered upon the journals; and the divis- 
ions shall be divided into districts, and for each division there shall be a 
chancellor, who shall, at the time of his election or appointment, and 
during his continuance in office, reside in the division for which he 
shall have been elected or appointed. 

Sec. 8. A chancery court shall be held in each district, at a place to 
be fixed by law, at least once in each year ; and the chancellors may 
hold courts for each other, when they deem it necessary. 

Sec. 9. Tne General Assembly shall have power to establish in each 
county within the State a court of probate, with general jurisdiction for 
the granting of letters testamentary and of administration, and for 
orphans' business. 

Sec. 10. The judges of the supreme court, circuit courts and chan- 
cellors shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, 
which shall not be diminished during their official terms, but they shall 
receive no fees or perquisites, nor hold any office (except judicial offices) 
of profit or trust under this State, or the United States, or any other 
pow°er, during the term for which they have been elected. 

Sec. 11. The supreme court shall consist of one chief justice, and 
such number of associate justices as may be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 12. The chief justice and associate justices of the supreme court, 
judges of the circuit courts, probate courts and chancellors, shall be 
elected by the qualified electors of the State, circuits, counties, and 
chancery divisions for which such courts may be established, at such 
time as may be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 13. The judges of such inferior courts of law and equity as may 
be by law established, shall be elected or appointed, in such mode as the 
General Assembly may prescribe. 



[xxv] 

Sec. 14. The judges of the supreme court, circuit courts, and chan- 
cellors, and the judges of city courts, shall have been citizens of the 
United States, and of this State, for five years next preceding- their 
etection or appointment, and shall be not less than twenty-five years of 
age, and learned in the law. 

Sec. 15. The chief justice and associate justices of the supreme court, 
circuit judges, chancellors and probate judges, shall hold office for the 
term of six years, and until their successors are elected or appointed and 
qualified; and the right of such judges and chancellors to hold, tbeir 
offices for the full term, hereby pi'escribed, shall not be affected by any 
change hereafter made by law in any circuit, division or county in the 
mode or time of election. 

Sec. 16. The judges of the supreme court shall, by virtue of their 
offices, be conservators of the peace throughout the State; the judges of 
the circuit courts, within their respective circuits, and the judges of 
the inferior courts, within their respective jurisdictions, shall, in like 
manner, be conservatoi-s of the peace. 

Sec. 17. Vacancies in the office of any of the judges or chancellors 
of this State shall be filled by appointment by the Governor, and such 
appointee shall hold his office for the unexpired term, and until his suc- 
cessor is elected or appointed and qualified. 

Sec. 18. If in any case, civil or criminal, pending in any circuit, 
chancery or city court in this State, the presiding judge or chancellor 
shall, for any legal cause, be incompetent to try, hear or render judg- 
ment in such cause, the parties or their attorneys of record, if it be a 
civil case, or the solicitor or other prosecuting officer, and the defendant 
or defendants, if it be a criminal case, may agree upon some disinter- 
ested person practicing in the court, and (earned in the law, to act as 
special judge or chancellor, to sit as a court and to hear, decide and ren- 
der judgment in the same manner and to the same effect as a judge of 
the circuit or city court or chancellor sitting as a court might do in such 
ease. If the case be a civil one and the parties or their attorneys of rec- 
ord do not agree, or if the case be a criminal one and the prosecuting of- 
ficer and the defendant or defendants do not agree upon a special judge 
or chancellor, or if either party in a civil cause is not represented in 
court, the clerk of the circuit or city court, or register in chancery, of 
the court in which said cause is pending, shall appoint the special judge 
or chancellor, who shall preside, try and render judgment as in this sec- 
tion provided. 

Sec. 19. The General Assembly shall have power to provide for the 
holding of circuit and chancery courts in this State, when the judges or 
chancellors thereof fail to attend regular terms. 

Sec. 20. JSTo judge of any court of record, in this State, shall practice 
law in any of the courts of this State or of the United States. 

Sec. 21. Registers in chancery shall be appointed by the chancellors 
of the divisions, and shall hold office during the term of the chancellor 
making such appointment: and such registers shall receive as compen- 
sation for their services only such fees and commissions as may be spe- 
cifically prescribed by law. 

Sec. 22. A clerk of the supreme court shall be appointed by the judges 



[xxvij 

thereof, and shall hold office during the term of the judges making the 
appointment, and clerks of such inferior courts as may be established by 
law shall be appointed by the judges tbereof, and shall hold office during 
the term of the judge making such appointment. 

Sec. 23. Clerks of the circuit court shall be elected by the qualified 
electors in each county, for the term of six years. Vacancies- in such 
office shall be filled by the Governor for the unexpired term. 

Sec. 24. The clerk of the supreme court and registers in chancery 
may be removed from office by the judges of the supreme court and chan- 
cellors respectively, for cause, to be entered at length upon the records of 
the court. 

Sec. 25. A solicitor for each judicial circuit shall be elected by joint 
ballot of the General Assembly, who shall be learned in the law, and 
who shall, at the time of his election, and during his continuance in 
office, reside in the circuit for which he is chosen, and whose term of 
office shall be for six years ; Provided, That the General Assembly, at the 
first session thereof, after the ratification of this constitution, shall, by 
joint ballot, eiect a solicitor for each judicial circuit of the State, whose 
term of office shall begin on Tuesday after the first Monday in Novem- 
ber, 1876, and continue for four years; And, provided, that the General 
Assembly may, when necessary, provide for the election or appointment 
of countj^ solicitors. 

Sec. 26. There shall be elected by the qualified electors of each pre- 
cinct of the counties not exceeding two justices of the peace and one 
constable. Such justices shall have jurisdiction in all civil cases wherein 
the amount in controversy does not exceed |I00, except in cases of libel, 
slander, assault and battery, and ejectment. In all cases tried before 
such justices, the right of appeal, without prepayment of costs, shall be 
secured by law ; Provided, that the Governor may appoint one notary 
public for each election precinct in counties, and one for each ward in 
cities of over 5,000 inhabitants, who, in addition to the powers of notary, 
shall have and exercise the same jurisdiction as justices of the peace 
within the precincts and wards for which they are respectively ap- 
pointed ; Provided, that notaries public without such jurisdiction may 
be appointed. The term of office of such justice and notaries public 
shall be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 27. Aq attorney-general shall be elected by the qualified electors 
of the State at the same time and places of election of members of the 
General Assembly, and whose term of office shall be for two years, and 
until his successor is elected and qualified. After his election he shall 
residtj at the seat of government and shall be the law officer of the 
State, and shall perform such duties as may be required of him by law. 

Sec, 28. The style of all process shall be "The State of Alabama," 
and all prosecutions shall be carried on in the name and by the authority 
of the same, and shall conclude, "Against the peace and dignity of the 
State." 

ARTICLE VII. 

impeachments. 
Section 1. The Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, 



[xxvii] 

Attorney General, Superintendent of Education, and Judges of the 
Supreme Court may be removed from office for willful neglect of duty, 
corruption in office, liabitual drunkenness, incompetency, or any ofl'ense 
involving moral turpitude while in office, or committed under color 
thereof, or connected therewith, by the Senate, sitting as a court for that 
purpose, under oath or affirmation, on articles or charges preferred by 
the House of Representatives. 

Sec. 2 The chancellors, judges of the circuit courts, judges of the 
probate courts, solicitors of the circuits and judges of the inferior courts 
from which an appeal may be taken directly to the supreme court, may 
be removed from office for any of the causes specified in the preceding 
section, by the supreme court, under such regulations as may be pre- 
scribed by law. 

Sec. 3. The sheriffs, clerks of the circuit, city or criminal courts, tax 
collectors, tax assessors, county treasurers, coroners, justices of the peace, 
notaries public, constables, and all other county officers, mayors and 
intendants of incorporated cities and towns in this State, may be 
removed from office for any of the causes specified in section one of this 
article, by the circuit, city or criminal court of the county in which such 
officers hold their office, under such regulations as may be prescribed by 
law; Provided, that the right of trial by jury and appeal in such cases 
be secured. 

Sec. 4, The penalties in cases arising under the three preceding sec- 
tions shall not extend beyond removal from office and disqualification 
from holding office under the authority of this State, for the term for 
which he was elected or appointed ; but the accused shall be liable to in- 
dictment, trial and punishment as prescribed by law. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

SUFFRAGE AND ELECTIONS. 

Section 1. Every male citizen of the United States, and every male 
person of foreign birth who may have legally declared his intention to 
become a citizen of the United States before he offers to vote, who is 21 
years old or upwards, possessing the following qualifications, shall be an 
elector, and shall be entitled to vote at any election by the people, except 
as hereinafter provided : 

1st. He shall have resided in the State at least one year immediately 
preceding the election at which he offers to vote. 

2d. He shall have resided in the county for three months, and in the 
precinct, district or ward for thirty days immediately preceding the elec- 
tion at which he offers to vote ; Provided, that the General Assembly 
may prescribe a loiiger or shorter residence in any precinct in any 
county, or in any ward in any incorporated city or town having a popu- 
lation of more than 5,000 inhabitants, but in no case to exceed three 
months; And provided, that no soldier, sailor or marine in the military 
or naval service of the United States shall acquire a residence by being 
stationed in this State. 

Sec. 2. All elections by the people shall be by ballot, and all elections 
by persons in a representative capacity shall be v.va voce. 



Sec. 3. The following classes shall not be permitted to register, vote 
or hold olfice : 

1st. Those who shall have been convicted of treason, embezzlement of 
public funds, malfeasance in office, larceny, bribery, or other crime pun- 
ishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary. 

2d. Those who are idiots or insane. 

Sec. 4. Electors shall in all cases, except treason, felony or breach of 
the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at elections 
or while going to or returning therefrom. 

8ec. 5. The General Assembly shall pass laws, not inconsistent with 
this constitution, to regulate and govern elections in this State, and all 
such laws shall be uniform throughout the State. The General Assembly 
may. when necessary, provide by law for the registration of electors 
throughout the State, or.ia any incorporated city or town thereof, and 
when it is so provided no person shall vote at any election unless he shall 
have registered as required by law. 

Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to pass adequate 
laws giving protection against the evils arising from the use of intoxica- 
ting liquors at all elections. • . 

Sec. 7. Returns of elections for all civil officers who are to be com- 
missioned by the Governor, except Secretary of State, State Auditor, 
State Treasurer aud Attorney General, and for members of the General 
Assembly, shall be made to the Secretary of State. 

ARTICLE IX. 

REPRESENTATION. 

Section 1 The whole number of senators shall be not less than one- 
fourth nor more than one-third of the whole number of representatives. 

Sec. 2. The house of representatives shall consist of not more than 
one hundred members, who shall be apportioned by the General 
Assembly among the several counties of the State according to the num- 
ber of inhabitants in them respectively, as ascertained by the decennial 
census of the United States for the year 1880; which apportionment, 
when made, shall not be subject to alteration until the first session of 
the General Assembly after the next decennial census of the United 
States shall have been taken. 

Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, at its first ses- 
sion after the taking of the decennial census of the United States in 
1880, and after each subsequent decennial census, to fix by law the num- 
ber of representatives, and apportion them among the several counties 
of the State ; Provided, that each county shall be entitled to at least one 
representative. 

Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of the General Assembly at its first ses- 
sion after the taking of the decennial census of tbe United States in 
1880, and after each subsequent decennial census, to fix by law the num- 
be^r of senators, and to divide the State into as many senatorial districts 
as there are senators, which districts shall be as nearly equal to each 
other in the number of inhabitants as may be, and each shall be entitled 
to one senator and no more ; and which districts, when formed, shall not 



fxxixj 



I 



be changed until the next apportioning session of the General Assembly 
after the next decennial census of the United States shall have been 
taken. No county shall be divided between two districts, and no district 
shall be made of two or more counties not contiguous to each otber. 

Sec. 5. Should the decennial census of the United States from any 
cause not be taken, or if when taken the same as to tbis State is not full 
or satisfactory, the General Assembly shall bave power at its first session 
after the time shall have elapsed for the taking of said census, to provide 
for an enumeration of all the inhabitants of this State, and once in each 
ten years thereafter, upon which it shall be the duty of the General 
Assembly to make the apportionment of representatives and senators as 
provided for in tbis article. 

Sec. 6. Until the General Assembly shall make an apportionment 
of representatives among the several counties, after the first decennial 
census of the United States as herein provided, the counties of Autauga, 
Baldwin, Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Chilton, Cherokee, Choctaw, Clarke, 
Clay, Cleburne, Coffee, Colbert, Conecuh, Coosa, Covington, Crenshaw, 
Dale, DeKalb, Elmore, Etowah, Escambia, Fayette, Franklin, Geneva, 
Henry, Lauderdale, Marion, Morgan, Monroe, Marshall, Randolph, 
Sanford, Shelby, St. Clair, Walker, Washington and Winston shall each 
have one representative; the counties of Barbour, Bullock, Butler, 
Chambers, Greene, Hale, Jackson, Jefferson, Limestone, Lawrence, 
Lowndes, Lee, Vtacon, MareugD, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Russell, Sumter, 
Tall idega. Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa and Wilcox shall have each two rep- 
resentatives; the county of Madison shall have three representatives; 
the counties of Dallas and Montgomery shall have each four representa- 
tives, and the county of Mobile shall bave five representatives. 

Sec. 7. Until the General Assembly shall divide the State into sena- 
torial districts as herein provided, the senatorial districts shall be as fol- 
lows : 

First district, Lauderdale and Limestone ; second district, Colbert and 
Lawrence; third district, Morgan, Winston and Blount ; fourth district, 
Madison; fifth district, Marshall, Jackson and' DeKalb; sixth district, 
Cherokee, Etowah and St. Clair; seventh district, Calhoun and Cle- 
burne; eighth district, Talladega and Clay; ninth district, Randolph 
and Chambers; tenth district, Macon and Tallapoosa; eleventh district, 
Bibb and Tuscaloosa; twelfth district, Franklin, Marion, Fayette and 
Sanford; thirteenth district. Walker, Jefferson and Shelby; fourteenth 
district, Greene and Pickens ; fifteenth district, Coosa, Elmore and Chil- 
ton; sixteenth district, Lowndes and Autauga; seventeenth district, 
Butler and Conecuh; eighteenth district, Perry; nineteenth district, 
Choctaw, Clarke and Washington; twentieth district, Marengo; twenty- 
first district, Monroe, Escambia and Baldwin; twenty-second district, 
Wilcox ; twenty-third district, Henry, Coffee, Dale and Geneva; twenty- 
fourth district, Barbour; twenty-fifth district, Pike, Crenshaw and Cov- 
ington; twenty-sixth district, Bullo(^; ; twenty-seventh district, Lee; 
twenty-eighth district, Montgomery; twenty ninth district, Russell; 
thirtieth district, Dallas ; thirty-first district, Sumter ; thirty-second dis- 
trict, Hale ; thirty-third district, Mobile. 



[xxx] 
AETICLE X. 

EXEMPTEli PROPERTY. 

Section 1. The persoual property of any resident of this State to the 
value of $1,000, to be selected by such resident, shall be exempted from 
«ale on execution, or other process of any court, issued for the collection 
of any debt contracted since the iSth day of July, 1868, or after the rati- 
fication of this constitution. 

Sec. 2. Every homestead, not exceeding eighty acres, and the dwell- 
ing and appurtenances thereon, to be selected by the owner thereof, and 
not in any city, town or village, or in lieu thereof, at the option of the 
owner, any lot in the city, town or village, with the dwelling and appur- 
tenances thereon, owned and occupied by any resident of this State, and 
not exceeding the vaiue of two thousand dollars, shall be exempted from 
sale on execution or any other process from a court, for a"y debt con- 
tracted since the 13th day of July, 18S8, or after the raniication of this 
constitution. Such exemption, however, shall not extend to any mortgage 
lawfully obtained, but such mortgage or other alienation of such home- 
stead, by the owner thereof, if a married man, shall not be valid without 
the voluntary signature and assent of the wife to the same. 

Sec. 3. The homestead of a family, after the death of the owner 
thereof, shall be exempt from the payment of any debts contracted since 
the 13th day of July, 1868, or after the ratification of this constitution, in 
all cases, during the minority of the children. 

Sec. 4. The provisions of sections one and two of this article shall 
not be so construed as to prevent a laborer's lien for work done and 
performed for the person claiming such exemption, or a mechanic's lien 
for work done on the premises. 

Sec. 5. If the owner of a homestead die, leaving a widow, but no 
children, such homestead shall be exempt, and the rents and profits 
thereof shall inure to her benefit. 

Sec. 6. The real and personal property of any female in this State, 
acquired before marriage, and all property, real and personal, to which 
she may afterwards be entitled by gift, grant, inheritance or devise, 
shall be and remain the separate estate and property of such female, and 
shall not be liable for any debts, obligations and engagements of her 
husband, and may be devised or bequeathed by her the same as if she 
were afemme sole. 

Sec. 7. The right of exemptions hereinbefore secured, may be 
waived by an instrument in writing, and when such waiver relates to 
realty, the instrument must be signed by both the husband and wife, 
and attesLed by one witness. 

ARTICLE XI. 

TAXATION. 
9 

Section 1. All taxes levied on property in this State shall be assessed 
in exact proportiou to the value of such property; Provided, however, 
the General Assembly may levy a poll tax, not to exceed one dollar and 
fifty cents on each poJl, which shall be applied exclusively in aid of the 
public school fund in the county so paying the same. 



[xxxi] 

Sec. 2. No power to levy taxes shall be delegated to individuals or 
private corporations. 

Sec. 3. After the ratification of this constitution, no new debt shall 
be created against or incurred by this State or its authority, except to 
repel invasion or suppress insurrection, and then only by a concurrence 
of two-thirds of the members of each house of the General Assembly, 
and the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered on the jour- 
nals ; and any act creating or incurring any new debt against this State, 
except as herein provided for, shall be absolutely void ; Provided, the 
Governor may be autliorized to negotiate temporary loans, never to 
exceed $100 000, to meet deficiencies iu the treasury, and until the same 
is paid no new loan shall be negotiated. Provided further, that this sec- 
tion shall not be so construed as to prevent the issuance of bonds in 
adjustment of existing State indebtedness. 

Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall not have the power to levy, in 
any one year,., a^ greater rate of taxation than three-fourths of one per 
centum on the value of the taxable property within this State. 

Sec. 5. No county in this State shall be authorized to levy a larger 
rate of taxation, in any one year, on the value of the taxable property 
therein, than one-half of one per centum; Provided, that to pay debts 
existing at the ratification of this constitution, an additional rate of one- 
fourth of one per cent, may be levied and collected, which shall be 
exclusively appropriated to the payment of such debts or the interest 
thereon. Provided further, that to pay any debt or liability now exist- 
ing against any county incurred for the erection of the necessary public 
buildings or other ordinary county purposes, or that may hereafter be 
created for the erection of necessary public buildings or bridges, any 
county may levy and collect such special taxes as may have been or may 
hereafter be authorized by law, which taxes so levied and collected shall 
be applied exclusively to the purposes for which the same shall have 
been levied and collected. 

Sec. 6. The property of private corporations, associations and indi- 
viduals of this State, shall forever he taxed at the same rate; Provided, 
this section shall not apply to institutions or enterprises devoted exclu- 
sively to religious, educational or charitable purposes. 

Src. 7. No city, town or other municipal corporation other than pro- 
vided for in this article, shall levy or collect a larger rate of taxation, in 
any one year on the property thereof, than one-half of one per centum 
of the value of such property, as assessed for State taxation during the 
preceding: year; Provided, tha': for the paymen of debts existing at the 
time of the ratification of this constitution, and the interest thereon, an 
additional rate of one per centum ma'v be collected to be applied exclu- 
sively to such indebtedness; and provided, this section shall not apply to 
the city of Mobile, which city may, until the 1st day of January, 1879, levy 
a tax not to exceed the rate of one per centum, and from and after that 
time a tax not to exceed the rate of three-fourths of one per centum to 
pay the expenses of the city government, and may also, until the first 
day of January, 1879, levy a tax not toexcefd the rate of one per centum, 
and from and after that time a tax not to exceed the rate of three-fourths 
of one per centum to pay the existing indebtedness of said city and the 
interest thereon. 



[xxxii] 

Sec. 8. At the first session of the General Assembly after the ratifi- 
cation of this constitution, the salaries of the following officers shall be 
reduced at least 25 per centum, viz: Governor, Secretary of State, State 
Auditor, State Treasurer,- Attorney General, Superintendent of Educa- 
tion, Judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts, and Chancellors. And 
after said reduction the General Assembly shall not have the power to 
increase the same, except by a vote of a majority of all the members 
elected to each house, taken by yeas and nays and entered on the jour- 
nals. Provided, this section shall not apply to any of said officers now 
in oflBce. 

Sec. 9. The General Assembly shall not have the power to require the 
counties or other municipal corporations to pay any charges which are 
now payable out of the State Treasury. 



ARTICLE XII. 

MILITIA. 

Section 1. All able bodied male inhabitants of this State, between 
the ages of 18 and 45 years, who are eitizpiis of the United States, or have 
declared their intention to become such citizens, shall be liable to military 
duty in the militia of the State. 

Sec. 2. The General Assembly in providing for the organization, 
equipment, and discipline of the militia, shall conform as nearly as prac- 
ticable to the regulations for the government of the armies of the United 
States. 

Sec. 3. Each company and regiment shall elect its own company and 
regimental officers; but if any company or regiment shall neglect to 
elect such officers within the time prescribed by law, they may be ap- 
pointed by the Governor. 

Sec. 4 Volutiteer organizations of infantry, cavalry and artillery 
may be formed in such manner and under such restrictions, and with 
such privileges as may be provided by law. 

Sec. 5. The militia and volunteer forces shall in all cases, except trea- 
son, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during 
their attendance at musters, parades and elections, and in going to and 
returning from the same. 

Sec. 6. The Governor shall, except as otherwise provided herein, be 
commander-in-chief of the militia and volunteer forces of the State 
except when in the service of the United States, and shall, with the 
advice and consent of the Senate, appoint all general officers, whose term 
of office shall be for four years. The Governor, the generals, and regi- 
mental and battalion commanders shall appoint their own staffs, as may 
be provided by law. 

Sec. 7. The General Assembly shall provide for the safe keeping of 
the arms, ammunition and accoutrements, military records, banners and 
relics of the State. 

Sec. 8. The officers and men of the militia and voluiiteer forces shall 
not be entitled to or receive any pay, rations or emoluments when not in 
actual service. 



Jxxxiii] 
ARTICLE XIII. 

EDUCATION. 

Section 1. The General Assembly shall establish, organize and main- 
tain a system of public schools throughout the State, for the equal benefit 
of the children thereof, between the ages of 7 and 21 years ; but separate 
schools shall be provided for the children of citizens of African descent. 

Sec. 2. The principal of all funds arising from the sale or other dispo- 
sition of lands or other property which has been or may hereafter be 
granted or entrusted to this State, or given by the United States for edu- 
cational purposes, shall be preserved inviolate and undiminished ; and 
the income arising therefrom shall be faithfully applied to the specific 
objects of the original grants or appropriations. 

Sec. 3. All lands or other property given by individuals or appropri- 
ated by.the State for educational purposes, and all estates of deceased 
persons who die without. leaving a will or heir, shall be faithfully applied 
to the maintenance of the public schools. 

Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall also provide for the levying and 
collection of an annual poll tax, not to exceed one dollar and fity cents 
on each poll, which shall be applied to the support of the public schools 
in the counties in which it is levied and collected, 

Sfc. 5. The income arising frona the sixteenth section trust fund, the 
surplus revenue fund, until it is called for by the United States Govern- 
ment, and the funds enumerated in sections three and four of this article, 
with such other moneys to be not less than one hundred thousand dol- 
lars per annum, as the General Assembly shall provide by taxation or 
otherwise, shall be applied to the support and maintenance of the public 
schools, and it shall be the dhty of the General Assembly to increase, 
from time to time, the public school fund, as the condition of the 
treasury and the resources of the State will admit. 

Sec. 6, Not more than four per cent, of all moneys raised, or which 
may hereafter be appropriated for the support of public schools shall be 
used or expended otherwise than for the payment of teachers employed 
in such schools ; Provided. That the General Assembly may, by a vote of 
two-thirds of each house, suspend the operation of this section, 

Skc. 7, The supervision of the public schools shall be vested in a 
superintendent of education, whose powers, duties, term of oflfice and 
compensation shall be fixed by law. The superintendent of education 
shall be elected by the qualified voters of the State, in such manner and 
at such time as shall be provided by law. 

Sec, 8. No money raised for the support of the public schools of the 
State shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian or 
denominational school. 

Sec. 9, The State University, and the Agricultural and Mechanical 
College shall each be under the management and control of a Board of 
Trustees. The Board for the University shall consist of two members 
from the congressional district in which the University is located, and 
one from each of the other congressional districts in the State. The 
Board for the Agricultural and Mechanical College shall consist of two 
members from the congressional district in which the college is located, 



and one from each of the other congressional districts in the State, Said 
trustees shall be appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate, and shall hold office for a term of six years, and 
until their successors shall be appointed and qualified. After the first 
appointment each board shall be divided into three classes, as nearly 
equal as may be. The seats of the first class shall be vacated at the ex- 
piration of two years, and those of the second class in four years, and 
those of the third class at the end of six years from the date of appoint- 
ment, so that one-third may be chosen biennially. No trustee shall re- 
ceive any pay or emolument other than his actual expenses incurred in 
the discharge of his duties as such. The Governor shall be ex officio 
President, and the Superintendent of Education ex officio a member of 
each of said Boards of Trustees. 

Sec. 10. ' The General Assembly shall have no power to change the 
location of the State University, or the Agricultural and Mechanical 
College, as now established by law, except upon a vote of two-thirds of 
the members of the General Assembly, taken by yeas and nays and en- 
tered upon the journals. 

Sec. 11. The provisions of this article, and of any act of the General 
Assembly passed in pursuance thereof, to establish, organize and main- 
tain a system of public schools throughout the State, shall apply to Mo- 
bile county only so far as to authorize and require the authorities desig- 
nated by law to draw the portion of the funds to which said county will 
be entitled for school purposes, and to make reports to the Superin- 
tendent of Education as may be prescribed by law. And all special in- 
comes and powers of taxation as now authorized by law for the benefit 
of public schools in said county, shall remain undisturbed until other- 
wise provided by the General Assembly ; Provided. That separate schools 
for each race shall always be maintained by said school authorities. 

AETICLE XIV. 

COKPOBATIONS— PRIVATE CORPOKATIONS. 

Section 1. Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall 
not be created by special act, except for municipal, manufacturing, min- 
ing, immigration, indu:*trial and educational purposes, or for construct- 
ing canals, or improving navigable rivers and harbors of this State, and 
in cases where, in the judgment of the General Assembly, the objects of 
the corporation can not be attained under general laws. All general laws 
and special acts passed pursuant to this section, may be altered, amended 
or repealed. 

Sfc. 2. All existing charters, or grants of special or exclusive privi- 
leges, under which a 6o?^a^d6 organization shall not have taken place 
and business been commenced in good faith, at the time of the ratifica- 
tion of this constitution, shall thereafter have no validity. 

Sec. 3. The General Assembly shall not remit the forfeiture of the 

charter of any corporation now existing, or alter or amend the same, or 

pass any general or special law for the benefit of such corporation, other 

than in executipn of a trust created by law or by contract; except upon 

% 



[xxxv] 

the condition that such corporation shall thereafter hold its charter sub- 
ject to the provisions of this constitution. 

Sao. 4. No foreign corporation shall do any business in this State 
without having at least one known place of business, ana an authorized 
agent or agents therein, and such corpor ^tion may be sued in any county 
where it does business, by service of process upon an agent anywhere in 
this State. 

Sec. 5. No corporation shall engage in any business other than that 
expressly authorized in its charter. 

Sec. 6. No corporation shall issue stock or bonds, except for money, 
labor done, or money or property actually received; and all fictitious 
increase of stock or indebtedness shall be void. The stock and bonded 
indebtedness of corporations shall not be increased, except in pursuance 
of general laws, nor without the consent of the persons holding the 
larger amount in value of stock, first obtained at a meeting to be held 
after thirty days notice given in pursuance of law. 

Sec. 7. Municipal and other corporations and individuals, invested 
with the privilege of taking private property for public use, shal) make 
just compensation for the property taken, injured, or destroyed by the 
construction or enlargement of its works, highways or improvements, 
which compensation shall be paid before such taking, injury or destruc- 
tion. The General Assembly is hereby prohibited from depriving any 
person of an appeal from any preliminary assessment of damages 
against any such corportions or individuals made by viewers or other- 
wise; and the amount of such damages in all cashes of appeal shall, on 
the demand uf either party, be determined by a jury according to law. 

Sec. 8. Dues from private corporations shall be secured by such 
means as may be prescribed by law, but in no case shall any stockholder 
be individually liable otherwise than for the unpaid stock owned by him 
or her. 

Skc. 9. No corporation shall issue preferred stock without the consent 
of the owners of two-thirds of the stock of said corporation. 

Sec. 10. The General Assembly shall have the power to alter, revoke 
or amend any charter of incorporation now existing, and revokable at 
the ratification of this constitution, or any that may hereafter be created, 
whenever in their opinion it may be injurious to the citizens of the State, 
in such manner, hoAvever, that no injustice shall be done to the corpora- 
tors. No law hereafter enactei shall create, renew or extend the charter 
of more than one corporation. 

Sec. 11. Any as^sociation or corporation organized for the purpose, or 
any individual, shall have the right to construct and maintain lines of 
telegraph within this State, and connect the same with other lines, and 
the General Assembly shall, by general law of uniform operation, pro- 
vide reasonable regulations to give full etfeet to this section. No tele- 
graph company shall consolidate with, or hold a controlling interest in 
the stock or bonds of any other telegraph company owning a competing 
line, or acquire, by purchase, or otherwise, any other competing line of 
telegraph. 

Sec. 12. All corporations shall have the right to sue, and shall 
be subject to be sued, in all courts, in like cases as natural persons. 



[xxxvi] 

Seo. 13. The term corporation, as used in this article, shall be con- 
strued to include ail joint stock companies, or any associations having 
any of the powers or privileges of corporations, not possessed by indi- 
viduals or partnerships. 

BANKS AND BANKING. 

Sec. 14. The General Assembly shall not have the power to establish or 
incorporate any bank, or banking company, or monied institution for 
the purpose of issuing bills of credit, or bills payable to order or bearer, 
excepc under the conditions prescribed in this constitution. 

Sec. 15. No bank shall be established otherwise than under a general 
banking law, nor otherwise than upon a specie basis. 

Sec. 16. All bills, or notes issued as money, shall be, at all times, 
redeemable in gold or silver, and no law shall be passed sanctioning, 
directly or indirectly, the suspension, by any bank or banking company, 
of specie payment. 

Sec. 17. Holders of bank notes, and depositors, who have not stipu- 
lated for interest, shall, for such notes and deposits, fee entitled, in case 
of insolvency, to the preference of payment over all other creditors. 

Sec. 18. iCvery bank or banking company shall be required to cease 
all banking operations within twenty years from the time of its organi- 
zation, unless the General Assembly shall extend the time, and promptly 
thereafter close its business ; but shall have corporate capacity to sue^ 
and shall be liable to suit, until its affairs and liabilities are fully closed. 

Sec. 19. No bank shall receive directly or iudireotly, a greater rate of 
interest than shall be allowed by law to individuals for lending money. 

Sec. 20. The State shall not be a stockholder in any bank, nor shall 
the credit of tbe State ever be given, or loaned, to any banking com- 
pany, association, or corporation. 

RAIIiROADS AND CANALS. 

Sec. 21. All railroads and canals shall be public highways, and all 
railroad and canal companies shall be common carriers. Any associa- 
tion or corporation, organized for the purpose shall have the right to con- 
struct and operate a railroad between any points in this State, and to 
connect, at the State line, with railroads of other States. Every rail- 
road company shall have the right wi?th its road to intersect, connect 
with, or cross any other railroad, and shall receive and transport, each, 
the other's freight, passengers, and cars, loaded or empty, without delay 
or discrimination. 

Sec. 22. The General Assembly shall pass laws to correct abuses and 
prevent unjust discrimination and extortion in the rates of freights and 
passenger tariffs on railroads, canals and rivers in this State. 

Sec. 23. No railroad or other transportation company shall grant free 
passes, or sell tickets or passes at a discount, other than as sold to the 
public generally, to any member of the General Assembly, or to any per- 
son holding office under this State or the United States. 

Sec. 24. No street passenger railway shall be constructed within the 
limits of any city or town, without the consent of its local authorities. 

Sec. 25. No railroad, canal, or other transportation company, in ex- 



[xxxvii] 

istence At the time of the ratification of this constitutioa, shall have the 
benefit of any future legislation by general or special laws, other than in 
execution of a trust created by law or by contract, except on the condi- 
tion of complete acceptance of all the provisions of this article. 

ARTICLE XV. 

OATH OF OFFICE. 

Section 1. All members of the General Assembly, and all oflQcers, 
executive and judicial, before they enter upon the execution of the du- 
ties of their respective offices, shall take the following oath or affirma- 
tion, to-wit: 

"I, , solemnly swear [or affirm, as the case may be,] that I will 

support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of 
the State of Alabama, so long as I continue a citizen thereof; and that I 
will faithfully and honestly discharge the duties of the office upon which 
I am about to enter, to the be^^t of my ability, so help me God." 

Which oath may be administered by the presiding officer of either 
House of the General Assembly, or any officer authorized by law to ad- 
nainister an oath. 

ARTICLE XVI. 

MISCEIiLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 

Section 1. No person holding an office of profit under the United 
States, except postmasters whose annual salary does not exceed two 
hundred dollars, shall, during his continuance in such office, hold any 
office of profit under this State ; nor shall any person hold two offices of 
profit at one and the same time under this State, except justices of the 
peace, constables, notaries public and commissioners of deeds. 

Sec. 2. It js made the duty of the General Assembly to enact all laws 
necessary to give eflFect to the provisions of this constitution. 

ARTICLE XVII. 

MODE OF AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION. 

Section 1. The General Assembly may, whenever two-thirds of each 
House shall deem it necessary, propose amendments to this constitution, 
which, having been read on three several days, in each House, shall be 
duly published, in such manner as the General Assembly may direct, at 
least three months before the next general election for Representatives, 
for the consideration of tbe people ; and it shall be the duty of the sev- 
eral returning officers, at the next general election which shall be heM 
for Representatives, to open a poll for the vote of the qualified electors 
on the proposed amendments, and to make a return of said vote to the 
Secretary of State ; and if it shall thereupon appear that a majority 
of all the qualified electors of the State, who voted at such election, 
voted in favor of the proposed amendments, said amendments shall be 
valid to all intents and purposes as parts of this constitution, and the re- 
sult of such election shall be made known by proclamation of the Gov- 
ernor. 



[[xxxviii] 

Sec. 2. No convention shall hereafter be held for the purpose of alter- 
ing or amending the constitution of this State, unless the question of 
convention or no convention shall be first submitted to a vote of all the 
electors of the State and approved by a majority of those voting \xi said 
election. 

SCHEDULE. 

In order that no injury or inconvenience may arise from the altera- 
tions and amendments made by this Constitution to the existing Consti- 
tution of this State, and to carry this Constitution into effect, it is hereby 
ordained and declared — 

1. That all laws in force at the ratification of this Constitution, and 
not inconsistent therewith, shall remain in full force, until altered or re- 
pealed by the General Assembly ; and all rights, actions, prosecutions, 
claims and contracts of this State, counties, individuals or bodies corpor- 
ate, not inconsistent with this Constitution, shall continue to be as valid 
as if this Constitution had not ^ een ratified. 

2. That all bonds executed by or to any officer of this State, all recog- 
nizances, obligations, and all other instruments executed to this State, or 
any subdivision or municipality thereof, before the ratification of this 
Constitution, and all fines, taxes, penalties and forfeitures due and ow- 
ing to this State, or any subdivision, or to any municipality thereof; 
and all writs, suits, prosecutions, claims and causes of action, except as 
herein otherwise provided, shall continue and remain unaffected by the 
ratification of this Constitution. All indictments which may have been 
found, or which may hereafter be found, for any crime or offense com- 
mitted before the ratification of this Constitution, shall be proceeded 
upon in the same manner as if this Constitution had not been ratified. 

3. That all the executive and judicial officers, and all other officers in 
this Slate, who shall have been elected at the election held in this State, 
on third day of November, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, or who 
may have been appointed since that time, and all members of the pi'esent 
General Assembly and all that may hereafter be elected members of the 
present General Assembly, and all other officers holding office at the 
time of the ratification of this Constitution, except such as hold office 
under any act of the General Assembly, shall continue in office and ex- 
ercise the duties thereof until their respective terms shall expire, as pro- 
vided by the present Constitution and laws of this State. 

4. This Constitution shall be submitted to the qualified electors of this 
State for ratification or rejection, as authorized and required by an act of 
the General Assembly of this State, entitled "An act to provide for the 
calling of a Convention to revise and amend the Constitution of this 
State," approved nineteenth day of March, A. D., eighteen hundred and 
seventy -five. 

5. If at said election the said Constitution shall be found to have been 
ratified by a majority of all the qualified electors voting at said election, 
the said new Constitution, so ratified, shall go into effect as the new Con- 
stitution of the State of Alabama within the time stated in the procla- 
mation of the Governor, and shall thereafter be binding and obligatory 
as such upon all the people of this State, according to the provisions of 



[xxxix] 

said act, approved nineteenth day of March, eighteen hundred and 
seventy-five. 

6. That instead of the publication as required by section twelve of 
said act, the Governor of the State is hereby authorized to take such 
steps as will give general publicity and circulation to this Constitution 
in as economical manner as practicable. 

7. That all laws requiring an enumera'ion of the inhabitants of this 
State during the year eighteen and seventy-five, are hereby avoided. 

8. That the Board of Education of this State is hereby abolished. 

9. The salaries of the Executive and Judicial and all other officers of 
this State who may be holding office at the time of the ratification of 
this Constitution, and the pay of the present members of the General 
Assembly shall not be afltected by the provisions of this Constitution. 

1^ LEROY POPE WALKER, President. 



HAND BOOK OF ALABAMA. 



Part First. 



Origin of the name, ALABAMA — Geography; and Historical Chronology 
of the State; with an account of the Indians once living here. 



IS AWE OF ALABAMA. 

The STATE of Alabama derived its name from the great river 
Alabama, which drains its centre. The river took its name from 
the Alahamas, an early tribe of Indians who once lived upon its 
banks, at or near the site of the present city of Montgomery. 
From what the tribe derived its name, or the meaning thereof, is 
not knotni.* 

GEOGEAPHY OF ALABAMA. 

General Boundaries of Alabama. — The general boundaries 
of Alabama are as follows : Beginning at the point where the Slst 
parallel of north latitude crosses the Perdido Eiver, thence east to 
the western boundary line of Georgia, thence northerly along said 
line to the southern boundary of Tennessee, thence west along 
the southern boundary line of Tennessee, crossing the Tennessee 
Eiver, and on to the second intersection of that river by said line, 

*The popular idea of the origin of tlie name, Alabama, and the meaning of the 
word. Here We Rest, took its rise in a pretty legend connected with this tribe of In- 
dians. It is said, they were expelled from Northern Mexico during the rude assaults 
upon that kingdom by Cortex;, and In their wanderings in search of other homes, 
crossed a noble river, now the Alabama, when one of their chieftains, impressed 
with the beauty of the new-found country, and the seem-ity which the mighty 
stream flowing behind him afforded against pursutne enemies, struck his spear in the 
ground beneath the shade of a magnificent oak, and exclaimed, Alabama f that is to 
say, Here We Best ; and fi-om this incident, it is generally belisfved the tribe was there- 
after known as the Alabamas. The old seal of the State (a skeleton map of Alabama, 
suspended on a tree) , and which continued to be the seal until changed in 1868, was 
evidently designed to perpetuate this supposed incident. 



thence up that river to the mouth of Big Bear Creek, thence by a 
direct line to the north-west corner of Washington county in this 
State as originally formed, thence southerly along the line of Mis- 
sissippi to the Gulf of Mexico, thence eastwardly, including all 
islands within six leagues of the shore, to the Perdido Eiver, thence* 
up that river to the place of beginning. 

Boundary Between Alabama and Georgia.— The west 
bank of the Chattahoochee Eiver to the point on Miller's Bend 
next above the mouth of TJchee Creek, thence in a direct line to 
NickaJack. 

Boundary Between Alabama and Florida.— The "Mound" 
or "Ellicott" line, blazed all the way from near Irwin's Mills on 
the Chattahoochee Eiver to the Perdido, and further designated 
by mounds of earth one mile apart. 

Latitude and Longitude of Alabama.— Alabama lies be- 
tween latitude 30^ 10' and 35° N.; and longitude 84°, 53' and 88° 
30' W. 

Area of Alabama.— Square miles, 50,722; acres, 32,462,080. 

Population of Alabama. — The population of Alabama, by 
the Federal census of 1870, was 996,992. 

Islands of Alabama. — These are four in number, and lie in 
the Gulf of Mexico near the entrance to Mobile Bay. They are : 
Dauphin, Petit Bois, Mon Louis, and Turtle Back Islands. 

Sea Coast of Alabama. — Alabama has only about sixty 
miles of sea coast, extending from the Perdido River to the Missis- 
sippi line ; a large portion of the southern boundary of the State 
being cut off from the Gulf of Mexico by an intervening strip of 
Florida.* 

Mountain Ranges and General Topography of Ala- 
bama. — The Alleghany Mountains exhaust themselves in North- 
eastern Alabama, rendering that portion of the State's surface 
uneven and broken, although the elevation is nowhere very great. 
The range extends wi'st, with a slight bend to the south, and 
forms the dividing line between the waters of the Tennessee 
Eiver and the other rivers of Alabama. The former emptying 
into the Ohio at Paducah, and all the latter ultimately flowing 
southward into the Gulf of Mexico. From this range the face of 
the country slopes to the south, and is somewhat uneven as far 
as the centre of the State, where begin the rolling prairies, pine 
barrens and fertile alli^vial bottoms. The extreme southern por- 
tion is flat, and but slightly elevated above the level of the Gulf. 

♦Efforts have beeu made to annex this strip to Alabama, but so far without success. 
A Commission was at one time appointed to treajt with riorida on the subject. Ala- 
bama proposed to pay $1,000,000 for it. 



Rivers of Alabama. 



Alabama, 

Apalacha, 

Black Warrior, 

Buttahatchee, 

Cahaba, 

Chattahoochee, 

Chattooga, 

Ohoctawhatchee, 

Conecuh, 

Coosa, 

East B'h Choctawhatchee,/ 

Bast B'h Fish, 

Elk, 

Escambia, 

Flint— 1, 

Flint— 2, 

Little, 

Little Cahaba, 

Little Tallapoosa, 



Little Tombigbee, 

Locust Fork Bl'k Warrior, 

Looxapalila, 

Middle, 

Mobile, 

Nepulgah, 

North, 

North B'h Fish, 

Paint Eock, 

Patsaliga, 

Pea, 

Perdido, 

Sipsey, 

Spanish, 

Tallapoosa, 

Tennessee, 

Tensaw, 

Tombigbee, 

West B'h Choctawhatchee. 



Cities and Principal To^rns of Alabama.'*' 

NAME. • POPULATION. 

Mobile 32,034 

Montgomery! 10,588 

Selma 6,484 

HuntsvUle 4,907 

Eufaula 3,185 

Greenville 2,856 

Marion 2,646 

Opelika • 2,500 

Florence 2,003 

Talladega.. 1,933 

Grantville 1,761 

Greensboro 1,760 

Tuscaloosa 1,689 

Demopolis 1,539 

Union Springs 1,455 

Uniontown 1,444 

LaFayette 1,382 

Prattville 1,346 

Tuscumbia 1,214 

Birmingham 1,200 

Wetumpka 1,137 

Auburn- 1,088 

Troy 1,058 



♦Arranged according to population. Figures taken from Federal census of 1870, 
and no place given having population less tlian 1,000. 
tCapital. 



4 
HISTOEIOAL CHEOl^OLOGY OF ALABAMA. 

The History of Alabama, although not abounding in those 
glowing events which ordinarily contribute to the interest of his- 
tory — such as wars, political revolutions, battles, seiges, etc., etc., 
has, nevertheless, many important and striking incidents which 
deserve attention from the pen of the chronicler. In a work of 
the limits and character of the present, however, nothing more 
than a bare outline of such events can be given, and those seek- 
ing fuller information are referred to the several histories of Ala- 
bama, mention of which is made Elsewhere in this book. Below 
are given the dates, in order of time, of the most important events 
in the State's history : 

1540— July 2. The territory of what is now the State of Alabama, ei*,- 

tered byDeSoto, the Spanish adventurer, while searching for gold.* 
1540— October 18. DeSoto fought the great battle of Maubila, or Mauvila, 

with the tribe of Indians subsequently known as the Mobilians.f 
1540 — November 29 DeSoto passed out of Alabama into Mississippi, 

where is now the modern county of Lowndes, Mississippi.^ 
1699 — January 31. The French, under Iberville and Bienville, while 

sailing in search of the mouth of Ahe Mississippi River, discover 

Massacre, afterwards Dauphin Island.? ||. 
1702 — January. Bienville established a settlement on Massacre Island. 

_J! 

*DeSoto, with about 1,000 Cavaliers, splendidly armed and equipped, landed on 
the west coast of Florida, May 30tli, 1539, and marching through Florida and Georgia 
to Northeastern Georgia, crossed over that State and entered Alabama in what is now 
Cherokee County. From there, he marched in a southerly direction through Alabama 
to within one hundred miles of the Gulf Coast, and thence westwardly to the Missis- 
sippi River, which he discovered in May, 1541. Of course, it will be borne in mind 
that, inDeSoto's time, all the States mentioned were mere wilds, uninhabited except 
by Indians, and called by one general name— Florida. For a full account of DeSoto's 
march see Pickett's History of Alabama, vol. 1, chapter 1. 

fPickett, in his History of Alabama, vol. 1, p. 27, locates the site of this battle, 
which is said by Bancroft to have been one of the bloodiest Indian battles ever fought 
on the soil of the United States, at what is now Choctaw Bluff, Clarke County, on the 
Alabama River, about twenty-flve mUes above its confluence with the Tombigbee. 
The result of the battle was very disastrous to DeSoto, and although victorious, his 
. army became badly demoralized, and never recovered from its effects. DeSoto lost, 
in killed, eighty-two of his Cavaliers, and killed 6,000 Indians. 

JDeSoto died on the Mississippi in May, 1542, of a malignant fever contracted in 
its s-pr^amps, and was buried in the middle of the river, on a dark, stoi-my night to 
prevent Indian desecration of his remains. 

§Previous to this, in AprU, 1682, LaSalle, a gifted young Frenchman residing in 
French Canada, had, with a few daring companions, descended the Mississippi from 
near its headwaters to the mouth, and there, upon a small, marshy elevation, in full 
view of the sea, taken formal possession of the country in the name of his, King- 
Louis XIV, the then reigning sovereign of France, and in whose honor the territoi-y 
was namea ioMMiana. LaSalle could never afterwards find the mouth from the sea. 
Iberviae and BienVille found it ahortly after passing Massacre Island. 

II The French gave the name of Magsaore f,o the island from the quantity of human 
bones discovered.onits surface. 



5 

1702— January. Bienville establi8hed the original site of Mobile, on Mo- 
bile Bay, at the mouth of Dog Kiver, and built there Fort St. 
Louis de la Mobile."*- f 

1711 — March. Bienville established the present site of the city of Mo- 
bile.J 

1711— October. A pirate ship from Jamaica debarked on Massacre Island 
and pluYidered its inhabitants. 

1714— June. Fort Toulouse built by Bienville near the site of the present 
city of Tubkegee, Ala.^ 

1719 — August 19, A (Spanish squadron bombarded the French on Mas- 
sacre Island, but were repulsed. |j 

1720— December. The capital of the Louisiana Colony transferred from 
Mobiie to Biloxi, Miss. 

1721 — March 17. First African slaves landed at Mobile.** 

1735 . Fort Tombecbe established by Bienville on the Little Tom- 

bigbee River, at what is now Jones' Bluff. 

1743 — May. . Bienville, who, lor more than forty-six years had been Gov- 
ernor of tne Louisiana Colony, resigned and returned to France. 

1763 — February 18. France ceded to Fnglaud all the soil of the Louis- 
iana Colony east of the Mississippi, and embracing the settlement 
at Mobile. 

1780— March 14. Fort Charlotte— originally Fort Conde— and the Mo- 
bile settlement taken from the Flnglish by Don Galvez, the Span- 
ish Commander, ft 

1782 — November 30. On the treaty of peace between England and the 
United States, the former relinquished to the latter her claim to 
the soil east of the Mississippi, and north of latitude 31°. J J 

*Mobile City took its name from Mobile Bay, and tlie Bay received its name 
from a tribe of Indians once living upon its shores. These were the Indians wbo so 
heroically fought DeSoto at MuubUa in 1540, the remnant of whom, surviving that 
sanguinai-y battle, were found here by the early French, and by them called JfobiWans— 
probably a French transformation of the word Maubila. 

fThe seat of Government of the Louisiana Colony, .which, at that time, in- 
cluded the soil of the present States of Mississippi and Alabama, was fixed here by 
Bienville in 1702, and continued until 1711. 

tThe lower settlement at the mouth of Dog Kiver, being subject to inundation, 
Bienville resolved to remove his capital to more elevated ground, and did so, to the 
spot where the city of Mobile now stands. Here he built another fort, of wood, 
which in a few years gave place to the extensive brick fortress. Fort Conde of the 
French, and Fort Charlotte of the English. The French caUed it Conde, In honor of 
the French nobleman of that name ; and the English called it Charlotte, to honor theii' 
young Queen consort., at the time they became possessed of it. 

§For the very interesting history connected with this old Fort, consult Pickett's 
History of Alabama, vol. 1, p. 221. 

IIFrance and Spain were then at war. 

**These were a cargo of 120, and they were sold to the Colonists at an average of 
$176 each, to be paid for in tobacco or rice, in three annual installments. They were 
the first slaves introduced into the Louisiana Colony, but theu- arrival was rapidly fol- 
lowed by others . 

tfSpain and England were then at war. 

tJNotwithstanding this cession on the part of England, Spain continued to assert 
a title to all the territory east of the Mississippi, west of Georgia and south of latitude 
32° 28\ claiming It by virtue of her victory over the English at Mobile, in 1780. 



i^^S— Octobei* 27. Spain relinquished to the United States her claim t6 
the territory east of the Mississippi and north of latitude 31°. * 

1799 — September. Cax)t. Ellicott, an English Engineer Officer, com- 
pleted the running of his famous boundary line along the 31st par- 
allel of north latitude from the Mississippi to the Chattahoochee 
River, f ^ 

1802— April 24. Geoi'gia relinquished to the United States her claim to 
the control of the country out of which ultimately grew the States 
of Alabama and Mississippi. J 

1807 — February 19. Aaron Burr arrested in what is now Washington 
County, Alabama. § 

1807 — December. St. Stephens laid off in town lots, and a road cut from 
there to Natchez, Miss. 

1813 — April. The settlement at Mobile and the part of Alabama south 
of latitude 31°, relinquished by Spain to the United States. 

1813 — July. Bloody war commenced between the Creek Indians, and 
the white settlers of Georgia and what is now Alabama. 

1813— July 27, Battle of Burnt Corn fought. || 

1813— August 30. Fort Mims' Massacre. ** 

1813 — October. Gen. Andrew Jackson marched from Tennessee into 
what is now Alabama with 2,000 Tennesseans, to avenge the massa- 
cre at Fort Mims. 

1813 — November. Jacisson routed the Creeks with great slaughter at the 
battle of Talladega. 

1813— November 12. Celebrated canoe fight on the Alabama River near 
Claiborne, ft 

1814 — March 27. Jackson drove the Creeks from their fortifications on 
the Horse Shoe Bend of the Tallapoosa River, in the modern county 
of Tallapoosa, Ala., killing a great number and virtually ending 
the war. 

* Spain reserved at the time of this cession, the strip of the now State of Ala- 
bama, south of the tliirty-first parallel of north latitude, and continued to hold the 
settlement at Mobile until 1813. 

t This line is known as the "Ellicott" line, and at present, for the most part 
marks the southern boundary of Alabama. Owing to the duplicity of the Spaniards, 
Capt. Ellicott was three years running the line. 

t The money consideration for this suiTender was $1,250,000. 

§ Burr was endeavoring to make his escape to Pensacola, where he expected to 
leave the country. He was arrested by Capt. Gaines, and confined in Tort Stoddard, 
until taken to Washington, D. C. 

II This was the first in the long and terrible Creek war that followed, and its site 
was in the northern portion of what is now Conecuh County, Ala. 

** For a detailed account of this horrible butchery of men, women and children, 
see Pickett's History of Alabama, vol. 2, p. 264, etseq. Of the 553 souls in the Fort, 
less than fifty escaped the fury of the savage Creeks. Fort Mims, a square stockade 
enclosing about an acre, was located in the northern part of what is now Baldwin 
County, Ala. , about one mile to the east of the Alabama River, and two below the 
Cut-off. 

ft In this fight Jerry Austill, Sam Dale, and James Smith were paddled In a frail 
canoe by a negro named Caasar, to the middle of the river, where they attacked and 
. killed nine of eleven athletic Creek Indians, in another canoe; the two, who fescaped, 
sprang into the river at the beginning of the fight and swam ashore. No one of Aus- 
tin's party was seriously injured. 



jl814--^April. Fort Jackson established by Gen. Jackson on the site of 

Bienville's old Fort Toulouse. 
1814 — August 19. Treaty of peace concluded at Fort Jackson between 

Gen. Jackson and the Creeks. * 
1814 — September 15. British sea and land attack on Fort Bowyer re- 
pulsed by a portion of Jackson's command, f 
1815 — February 13. Fort Bowyer surrendered to the British. 
1815 — April 1. The British evacuate Mobile Point and Dauphin Island, 

pursuant to the treaty of Ghent. 
1817 — March 1. Alabama territory carved out of Mississippi territory, 

with St. Stephens as the seat of government, and Wm. W. Bibb, 

Territorial Governor. 
1818 — January 19. First Alabama Territorial Legislature convened at St. 

Stephens. 
1818 — July. French refugees found Demopolis. 
1818— November. Second and last Territorial Legislature assembled at 

St. Stephens. 
1819— March 2. Congress authorized the people of Alabama Territory to 

form a State government. 
1819— May 3. Election for delegates to frame a Constitution for tht? State 

of Alabama. J 
1819 — July 5. Convention to frame a Constitution for the State of Ala- 
bama, assembled at Huntsville. 
1819— August 2. Constitutional Convention concluded its labors and ad- 

journedw 
1819 — September 20. First general election in Alabama under the new 

Constitution, for Governor and members of the Legislature. ^ 
1819 — October 25. First State Legislature assembled at Huntsville. 
. 1819 — November 9. Wm. W. Bibb inaugurated first Governor of the 

State of Alabama. 
1819 — December 14. Joint resolution of Congress admitting the State of 
■^ Alabama into the Union. 

1819— December 18. Act of the General Assembly approved, to establish 

the University of Alabama. 
1820 — May 8. First term of the Supreme Court of the State of Alabama 

held at Cahaba. || 
1820 — October 23. Second State Legislature assembled at Cahaba. 
1820 — December 18. Supplementary University Act approved. 
1820— December 21. State Bank chartered and located at Cahaba, the 

seat of Government. Capital $2,000,000 
1825 — April 3. Gen. Lafayette visited Montgomery. 

* Tlie Creeks liad, at this time, been terribly punlsbed, and the Port Mima Mas- 
sacre fearfully avenged by Jackson and others, and they were glad to sue for peace. 

t This old fort was located on Mobile Point, and was built in 1813. Fort Mor- 
gan now occupies its site. The attack mentioned was dui-ing the war of 1812. 

X Voting contiuued for two days— May 3d and 4th. 

§ The voting was continued for two days— September 20th and 21st. 

II Cahaba became the seat of the State Government in 1820, by vu'tue of Art. 
m, sec. 29, of the Constitution of 1819. 

\ 



1826— state Capital and archives removed from Cahaba to Tuscaloosa. 

1828— Work on the original University buildings begun at Marrs Spring, 
one and a quarter miles east of Tuscaloosa Court-house. 

1831 — April 17. University of Alabama opened to students. 

1832 — January 13. Tuseumbia, Courtland, and Decatur Railroad incor- 
porated — the first constructed in the State. 

1832 — January 14. Act of the General Assembly approved, organizing 
the Supreme Court of Alabama, as now constituted. 

1832 — January 21, Montgomery branch of the State bank incorporated 
with a capital of $800,000. 

1832 — November 16. Decatur branch of the State Bank incorporated 
with a capital of $1,000,000. 

1832— December 14. Mobile branch of the State Bank incorporated with 
a capital of $2,000,000. 

1837 — Great financial revulsion in Alabama, and in the United States, 
generally. 

1839 — January 26. Alabama Penitentiary incorporated. 

1839— August. Great drouth throughout Alabama and the entire South, 
beginning about the first of this month and continuing until the 
end of January of the next year. 

1842— February 8. Alabama Penitentiary opened for the receptioa of 
convicts, and the penal code adapted to penitentiary punishments 
became operative. 

1846— January 28. General Assembly, by joint vote, selected Montgom- 
ery as the future site of the State Capital.* 

1846 — February 4. Act of the General Assembly approved, placing the 
State Bank and its branches in process of liquidation. 

1847 — November 2. Original capitol building at Montgomery completed 
and turned over to Commissioners appointed by the State to re- 
ceive it. 

1847 — December 6. General Assembly for the first time met in the new 
capitol at Montgomery. "^ 

1849 — December 14. Capitol at Montgomery destroyed by fire.f 

1849— December 17. Gov. Collier inaugurated in the Montgomery Meth- 
odist Church, the capitol having been burned three days before. 

1850— January. The work of rebuiiding the capitol at Montgomery 
commenced. J 

1851 — November. Present capitol at Montgomery completed. 

1852 — February 6. Alabama Insane Hospital incorporated. 

*A popular vote had been previously taken on the question of removing the 
seat of government from Tuscaloosa to some other more accessible and central point, 
and the proposition was carried. When the Legislature balloted for the new site the 
competing cities were Mobile, Montgomery, Selma, HuntsvUle, Tuscaloosa, Marlon, 
Wetumpka, and Statesville. Montgomery was chosen on the sixteenth ballot, when 
the vote stood: Montgomery 68, Tuscaloosa 39, Selma 11, Wetumpka 9, MobUe 3, 

fit was never definitively ascertained how the fli-e originated, some supposing it 
accidental and some thlnldng it the work of an Incendiary. The flames were fli-st dis- 
covered issuing from the roof of the Kepresentatlve Hall, about 1:15 p. m., and 
while both Houses were in session. The fire burned rapidly and in less than three 
hours the building was in ruins. Most of the archives were saved. 

|The present capitol occupies the site of the original buUding. 



.9 

1854— February 17. First Legislative enactment establishing a system of 
free public schools in Alabama. 

1856 — February 18. Important supplementary act to establish free schools 
in Alabama. 

1860— January 27. The State Institution at Talladega, for the instruction 
of the deaf and dumb, and the blind, incorporated. 

1860— February 24. General Assembly adopted a joint resolution re- 
quiring the Governor to order a general election for delegates to a 
State Convention in the event of the elevation of Abraham Lin- 
coln to the Presidency of the United States, 

1860 — December 24— General election for delegates to a State Convention 
under the call of Gov. Moore, pursuant to the above joint resolu- 
tion. <• 

1861 — January 7. State Convention assembled at Montgomery to take 
action in viewof the election of Abraham Lincoln.* 

1861— January 11. Ordinance of Secession adopted. f 

1861 — January 12 Alabama Senators and Representatives in Congress 
withdraw in a body on hearing of the adoption of the Ordinance 
of Secession. 

1861 — February 4. Delegates from six seceding States, comprising a 
Provisional Congress, assembled at Montgomery to organize the 
Government of the Confederate States. 

1861 — February 18. Jefferson Davis inaugurated, at Montgomery, first 
President of the Confederate States. 

1861 — March 21. State Convention adjourned, first having ratified the 
Constitution of the Confederate States, which had been submitted 
for such action. 

1861 — April 15. First patient admitted to the Alabama Insane Hospital. 

1864— August 5. Farragut's fleet entered Mobile Bay and encountered 
the Confederate war vessels. J 

1864— August 7. Fort Gaines capitulated to Farragut. 

1864 — August 23. Fort Morgan capitulated to Farragut. 

1865 — April 2. Selma stormed and captured by Wilson. 

University buildings at Tuscaloosa burned by Croxton. 

Spanish fort abandoned to Canby. 

Confederate defenses at Blakely stormed and taken by 



1865- 


-April 4. 


1865- 


-April 8. 


1865- 


-April 9. 




Canby. 


1865- 


-April 12. 


1865- 


-April 12, 



Mobile occupied by Federal troops. 
Montgomery occupied by Wilson. 
1865— June 21. President Johnson, by proclamation, appointed Lewis E. 
Parsons Provisional Governor of Alabama. 



*This was known as the Secession ConTention.- 

tGov. Moore prior to, but in anticipation of tlie adoption of this ordinance, 
seized Forts Morgan and Gaines, and Mt. Vernon Arsenal, in Alabama, andsenttroops 
to Pensacola to co-operate in the seizure of the Navy Yard and forts at that point. 

Jin the naval engagement which ensued, the Confederate fleet made a gallant 
resistance but was forced to succumb to Farragut' s superior strength. It was in this 
battle that the United States Monitor, Tecumseh, was sunk by a torpedo, and can-ied 
down over 300 men, whose bones now lie entombed within the heavy iron casing of 
the wreck. 



10 

1865— July 20. Gov. Parsons, by proclamation, ordered a general elec- 
tion throughout Alabama for delegates to a State Convention, called 
by him to assemble at Montgomery, Sept. 12, 1865. 

1865 — August 31. General election for delegates, pursua"nt to Gov. Par- 
sons' proclamation. 

1865— September 12. Constitutional Convention assembled at Montgom- 
ery. 

1865— September 30. Constitutional Convention adjourned. * 

1865 — November 6. Election for State officers and members of the Gen- 
eral Assembly— first after the war. 

1865— November 20.— General Assembly convened at Montgomery — first 
after the war. 

1865— December 13. Gov. Patton inaugurated. 

1865— December 20. State Government turned over to Gov. Patton by 
Gov. Parsons. 

1867— January. New University buildings begun at Tuscaloosa. 

1867 — March 2. Congress passed the Reconstiuction Act remanding the 
State to a semi-territorial condition and subjecting it to military 
rule, t 

1867 — March 23. Supplementary Act of Congress passed, prescribing the 
method by which the State might frame a new Constitution and 
apply for admission into the Union. 

1867 — November 5. Reconstruction Convention assembled at Montgom- 
ery. X 

1868 — February 4. Question of the adoption of the Constitution, framed 
by the Reconstruction Convention, voted on by the people. 

1868r-July 13. Wm. H. Smith, first Governor of the Reconstructed 
State, inaugurated. 

1868 — July. New University buildings at Tuscaloosa completed. 

1869 — April. New University buildings opened to students. 

1870 — November 8. Robert B. Lindsey elected Governor of Alabama. § 

1870— November 26. Gov. Lindsey inaugurated. 

1874 — November 24. George 8. Houston inaugurated Governor of Ala- 
bama. II 

1875 — March 19. Act of the General Assembly approved, calling a Con- 
vention to revise and remodel the Constitution of the State. 

1875 — August 3. General election for delegates to the State Convention 
of this year. 

1875 — September 6. State Convention assembled at Montgomery. 

* Before adjourning, the Convention made sucli changes in the organic law of the 
State as were demanded by the new order of things, and called a general election for 
Governor, other State officers, and members of the General Assembly. 

t It will be remembered that Congress refused to recognize the State Govern- 
m.ent established by President Johnson. 

X This is known also as the Bayonet Convention. 

§ This date is inserted because it marks an important event in the State's his- 
tory — i. e., the success, for the time being, of the Democratic and Conservative i'arty. 

II This date is inserted for the reason that, with the inauguration of Governor 
Houston, came the beginning of th()se reforms in the administration of the State Gov- 
ernment which have been since so vigorously and successfully prosecuted. 



187S— October 2. State Conventioa adjourned, after adopting the present 
Constitution of Alabama, and submitting it to tlie people for ratifi- 
cation or rejection. 

1875 — November 16. The Constitution of 1875 ratified by the people at a 
general election held on this day. 

lE^DIANS OF ALABAMA. 

The Indian tribes found in Alabama- by the first French and 
English settlers, and remaining here until removed to their West- 
ern reservations, were : 

The Muscogees, or Creeks, called Greeks by the English 
from the number of beautiful streams flowing through their vast 
country. This was the most extensive of the Alabama tribes, 
and, in time, absorbed a great number of lesser ones, including 
the once powerful Alahamas^ from whom the river and State of 
Alabama took their name. Removed to the West in 1837. 

The Ohoctaws, to whom the English gave the name of 
Flat-heads, from their habit of flattening the foreheads of their 
infants by a process of compression. What was left of the Mo- 
bilians by DeSoto, eventually became incorporated with this tribe. 
The Ohoctaws were removed to the West in 1830. 

The Ohickasaws, one of tie most war-like, fierce and 
powerful tribes in North America. Eemoved to the West in 1834. 

The Oherokees, from Chera, Jire — their Prophets being 
called Oherataghge, that is, men of divine fire. Eemoved to the 
West in 1836.* 

*Tliere were many otlier small tribes in Alabama, but, in tbe course of time, they 
all became absorbed in one or the other of these four great ones . 



Part Second. 



Government of Alabama— Its State and County Organization — Po- 
litical Divisions — and Laws Relating to Elections and the Mold- 
ing of Office. 



GOYERI^fMENT OF ALABAMA. 

The Government of Alabama is Eepublican in form, to accord 
with Art. lY, sec. 4, of the Constitution of the United States; and 
sec. 5 of the Act for the admission of the State into the Union, 
passed March 2d, 1819. 

The State has a written Constitution, the last revision of which 
was by the Convention assembled a.t Montgomery, September 6th, 
1875.* This Constitution is the supreme law of the State, and 
any enactment of the General Assembly, in conflict with it, is null 
and void. It can be altered or amended only in a very guarded 
way, distinctly pointed out in the instrument itself, and no Con- 
vention for this purpose can be held until after the question of 
Convention or No Convention shall have been first submitted to the 
people and voted on ; so careful were its framers to prevent hasty 
and unwise changes in its provisions. 

The Declaration of Rights, embraced in this Constitution, 
and which enunciates the great principles of liberty crystallized 
in Magna Gliarta, and improved upon by the restless spirit of in- 
dependence since, declares, among other things, that all men are 
equally free and independent; that all persons resident in this 
State, born in the United States, or naturalized, or who shall have 
legally declared their intention to become citizens of the United 
States, are citizens of Alabama, possessing equal civil and polit- 
ical rights ; that all political power is inherent in the people, and 
all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted 
for their benefit, and that, therefore, they have at all times an in- 
alienable and indefe^jsible right to change their form of govern- 
ment in such manner as they may deem expedient ; that no relig- 
ion shall be established by law, nor preference given to any re- 

*For the full text of this Constitution, as revised in 1875, see ante. 



13 

ligious sect or mode of worship ; that no one shall be compelled 
by law to attend any place of worship, nor to pay tithes or taxes 
for the support of any ministry ; that no religious test shall be 
required as a qualification to any office of public trust under this 
State, and that the civil rights, ■ privileges and capacities of any 
citizen shall not be, in any manner, affected by his religious prin- 
ciples; that any citizen may speak, write and publish his senti- 
ments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that lib- 
erty; that the people shall be secure in their persons, houses, pa- 
pers, and possessions from unreasonable seizures or searches, and 
that no warrant shall issue for such purpose without probable 
cause, supported by oath or affirmation ; that in all criminal prose- 
cutions the accused shall have a right to be heard by himself and 
counsel, or either, to demand the nature and cause of the accusa- 
tion, to have a copy thereof, to be confronted by the witnesses 
against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in 
his favor, and, in all prosecutions by indictment, a speedy public 
trial by an impartial jury of the county or district in which the 
offense was committed, and shall not be compelled to give evidence 
against himself, nor be deprived of his life, liberty, or property 
but by due process of law ; that no person shall be accused, or 
arrested, or detained, except in oases ascertained by law, and ac- 
cording to the forms which the same has prescribed, or punished, 
but by virtue of a law established and promulgated prior to the 
offense, and legally applied; that no person shall, for any indict- 
able offense, be proceeded against criminally by information, ex- 
cept in a few specified cases ;* that no person shall, for the same 
offense, be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; that no person 
shall be debarred from prosecuting or defending before any tri- 
bunal in this State, by himself or counsel, any civil cause to 
which he is a party; that the trial by jury shall remain inviolate ; 
that all courts shall be open ; that every person for every injury 
shall have a legal remedy, and right and justice be administered 
without sale, denial or delay ; that excessive fines shall not be 
imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishments inflicted; that all of- 
fenses, before conviction, shall be bailable, except capital offenses, 
when the proof is evident or the presumption great, and that ex- 
cessive bail shall not, in any case, be required ; that the writ of 
habeas corpus shall not be suspended by the authorities of this 
State ; that treason against the State shall consist only in levy- 
ing war against it, or adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and 
comfort, and that no person shall be convicted (rf treason except 

*ror these cases see an«e,„Coiistitution, Art. l,^sec. ,9. 



14 

on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on his 
own confession in open court. This Bill of Eights further inhib- 
its attainder or corruption of blood, imprisonment for debt, sus- 
pension of laws except by the General Assembly, the passage of 
ex post facto Isbws,, Ishws imjyaiTmg the obligation of contracts, or 
making irrevocable grants of special privileges, the taking of pri- 
vate property, except for public uses and then only upon just 
compensation first made ; secures to the citizens a right to assem- 
ble in a peaceable manner, and petition for a redress of griev- 
ances, and also to bear arms in defense of himself and the State ; 
forbids standing armies except with the consent of the General 
Assembly, strictly subordinates the military to the civil power, 
and provides that no soldier shall be quartered on any citizen ex- 
c«^pt in time of war, and then only in the manner prescribed by 
law ; declares that no title of nobility, or hereditary distinction, 
shall ever be granted or conferred in this State ; that immigration 
shall be encouraged, emmigration not prohibited, and every citi- 
zen free from forced exile; abolishes slavery in all its forms; and 
inhibits educational or property tests for suffrage or office. 

STATE OEGANIZATION. 

By its Constitution, the State is divided into three distinct, but 
co-ordinate branches — the Legislative, the Executive and the Ju- 
dicial — each supreme in its own sphere, and free from unauthor- 
ized interference by the other. 

The Legislative is the law-making department of the State 
Government, and consists of a General Assembly, composed of a 
Senate of not more than thirty-three members, and a House of Mep- 
resentatwes of not more than onn hundred, apportioned among the 
several Districts and counties of the State in a manner prescribed 
by the Constitution.* Senators are elected every four and Eepre- 
sentatives every two years, on the first Monday in August.f The 
General Assembly meets biennially, at Montgomery, and its ses- 
sions are limited to fifty days. The Senate is presided over by a 
President, and the House of Eepresentatives by a Speaker, chosen 
respectively by those bodies. Each House selects its own of- 
ficers, and is the sole Judge of the election, returns, and qualifi- 
cations of its members. 

The Executive Department of the State Government is com- 
posed of a Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor, At- 

*See ante. Constitution, Art. IX. 

tFor the qualifications of Senators and Representatives see ante. Constitution, 
Art. IV, sec. 4. 



15 

torney- General, and Superintendent of Education,* elected every 
two years, on the first Monday in August.f 

The Governor is the head of the Executive Department; re- 
sides at the Capital ; sees that the laws are faithfully executed ; 
keeps the General Assembly informed as to the condition and 
welfare of the State ; may remit fines and forfeitures in a manner 
prescribed by law ; grants reprieves and commutations of sen- 
tence ; has the power to pardon except in cases of treason and 
impeachment ; approves or vetoes the enactments of the General 
Assembly; and is Commander-in-Chief of the military forces of 
the State. The salary of the Governor is $3,000 a yea-". In case 
of his disqualification from any cause, the President of the Sen- 
ate takes his place, and if the latter is disqualified also, the 
Speaker of the House. 

The Secretary of State, like the Governor, is required to 
reside at the State Capital, and, next to him, is the most important 
officer of the Executive Department. He is the keeper of the 
Great Seal of the State, and has many important duties de- 
volving upon him by the Constitution and laws of the State. His 
salary is $1,800 a year, and his official bond $10,000. In case of 
disqualification, the Governor appoints his successor. 

The Treasurer also resides at the Capital, and is charged 
with the safe keeping and proper disbursement of the public 
funds of the State. His yearly salary is $2,100, and his of&cial 
bond $250,000. The Governor fills his place in case of disquali- 
fication. 

The Auditor keeps his office at the Capital, and it is his duty 
to audit and adjust the financial accounts of the State, and dis- 
bursements by the Treasurer can only be made on his warrant — 
in fact, he has general superintendence of the State's fiscal af- 
fairs, taxation, etc., and is one of the most important of the Ex- 
ecutive officers. His salary is $1,800 a year, and his official bond 
$20,000. When disqualified from any cause, the Governor ap- 
points his successor. 

The Attorney General resides also at the Capital. He is 
the law officer of the State, and legal adviser of the Governor 
and other members of the Executive Department. He is re- 
quired to attend on the part of the State to all criminal appeals 
pending in the Supreme Court, and to all important civil cases in 
which the State is a party. His annual salary is $1,500, and his 

*By tlie Constitution, Art. V, sec. 1, Sheriffs ai-e made a part of the Executive De- 
partment, but for the purposes of this Hand-Book, they will be tnore properly men- 
tioned under the head of County Oi'ganization, post. 

fFor the qualifications of these several officials, see ante. Constitution, Art. V. 



i6 

official bond |10,000. If disqualified from any canse the Governor 
appoints his successor. 

The Superintendent of Education must keep his office at the 
Capital, and has supervision of the public schools of the State. 
His yearly salary is $2,250, and his official bond $15,000. In 
case of vacancy, the Governor appoints his successor. 

The Judicial power of the State by the Constitution is vested 
in a Supreme Court, Circuit Courts, Chancery Courts, Probate 
Courts, Courts of the Justices of the Peace, and such other 
courts of law and equity, not to consist of more than five per- 
sons, as the General Assembly may from time to time establish. 
Under this grant of authority the General Assembly has estab- 
lished, in the principal cities of the State, courts known as City 
Courts ; and in the counties, courts called County Courts, and also 
Courts of County Commissioners.* 

The Supreme Court is the highest of the State Courts and 
the court of final resort. Its jurisdiction, except in the trial of 
certain impeachments,! and the exercise of its constitutional 
power to issue writs of injunction, habeas corpus, quo warranto, 
and such other remedial and original writs as are necessary to 
give it a general superintendence and control of inferior juris- 
diction, is appellate only, co-extensive with the State. This court 
is held at the seat of State government, and consists, at present, 
of one Chief Justice and two Ass^'ciate Justices, elected by the 
qualified voters of the State every six years at the general elec- 
tion on the first Monday in August.^ Vacancies in the office of 
Justice of the Supreme Court are filled by appointment of the 
Governor. The regular session of this court begins on the first 
Tuesday in December in each year, and continues until the last 
day of the next July ; but special sessions may be holden in the 
discretion of the Court. The annual salary of each Justice of 
the Supreme Court is $3,000. The officers of the Court are a 
Clerk, appointed by the Justices, and who gives bond in the sum 
of $5,000, and is paid fees ; Marshal, and ex-officio Librariao of 
the State and Supreme Court libraries, appointed by the Justices, 
and whose official bond is in the sum of $1,000, and annual salary 
$2,000; Reporter, appointed by the Justices, who reports the 
opinions of the Court, and is paid $2,000 a year ; and a Secretary 

*By the Constitution, Art. VI, sec. 1, ante, the Senate, sitting as a Court of Im- 
peaclmient> is vested, also, with 3udi<iial power. 

tSee ante. Constitution, Art. VH, sec. 2. 

JThe people ballot simply for Justices of the Supreme ©ourt, and the .justices 
elected appoint one of their number Chief Justice. For the qualiflcations and general 
powers and duties of- these Justices, see ante, Constitution, Art. VI. 



17 

to the Chief Justice, appointed by the Court, and paid six dollars 
a day for actual services rendered.* 

The Circuit Courts. The State is, at present, divided into 
twelve Judicial Circuits, numbered consecutively from one to 
twelve.t Each circuit has a Judge, known as Circuit Judge, 
elected by the qualified voters of the circuit once in every six 
years, at the general election on the. first Monday in August.J 
Vacancies in the office of Circuit Judge are filled by appoint- 
ment of the Governor. His annual salary is $2,250.§ The Con- 
stitution requires a Circuit Court to be holden in each county in 
the State at least twice in every year, and special terms may be 
held in the discretion of the Judge. The Circuit Court has 
original jurisdiction of all felonies and misdemeanors and of such 
actions and suits at law as are not cognizable before a Justice, || 
and appellate jurisdiction of all causes cognizable before a 
Justice, and in such other cases as may be provided by law. It 
exercises, also, a general superintendence over all inferior juris- 
dictions. The Circuit Judge has authority to grant writs of cer- 
tiorari, supersedeas, quo warranto, mandamus, and all other remedial 
and original writs, grantable by Judges at common law ; and writs 
of injunctions and ne-exeat, returnable into Chancery. The 
officers of a Circuit Court are, the Circuit Court Clerk** in each 
county, and Solicitorff in each circuit, with the Sheriff || as min- 
isterial officer. . Trial in the Circuit Court, except in a few in- 
stances, is by jury. 

The Chancery Courts. The State is divided, at present, 
into five chancery divisions, namely : Northern, Southern, Mid- 
dle, Eastern and Western, and the divisions are sub-divided into 
chancery districts.§§ For each division there is a Chancellor, and 
for each district an officer, styled Register in Chancery. The 
Chancellor is elected by the qualified voters of his division every 
six years, at the general election on the first Monday in August, 

* The Attorney General, ex officio, is also an oflacer of the Supreme Court. 

t For the counties composing each circuit and the times and places of holding 
courts therein, see Appendix. 

X For the qualiflcations of Circuit Judges, see Constitution, Art. VI, ss. 4 & 14, ante 

§ The salary untU after 1880 is $3,000. 

II For the civil and criminal jurisdiction of Justices', see pout. Justices of the Peace. 

** For the qualifications, term of office, powers and duties of this officer, see that 
tdtle, post. County Organization. 

ft The Solicitor is the law officer of the State within his circuit, and prosecutes all 
violations of the law therein. He is elected by joint vote of the General Assembly, 
and holds office for sis years. Vacancies in his office axe filled by the Governor- He 
is paid fees according to his convictions. 

Xt For the qualifications, term of office, powers and duties of this officer, see that 
title, pnxf County Organization. 

§§ For the counties composing ihe several chancery divisions and districts of the 
State, and the times and places of holding courts therein, see Appendix. 



i8 

and the Eegister is appointed by the Chancellor. Yacancies in 
the office of Chancellor are filled by the Governor. The annual 
salary of the Chancellor is $2,250.* The Eegister is paid fees. 
The powers and jurisdiction of Courts of Chancery extend to all 
civil causes in which a plain and adequate remedy is not provided 
in the other judicial tribunals ; to all cases founded on a gam- 
bling consideration, so far as to sustain a bill of discovery, and 
grant relief; to subject the equitable title or claim to real es- 
tate to the payment of debts ; and to such other cases as may be 
provided by law. Chancellors may als^ exercise the ordinary 
jurisdiction granted to that ofl&cer by the common law, in cases 
of necessity, when adequate provision has not been made for its 
exercise by some other officer, or in other courts, and with the 
exceptions, limitations and additions imposed by the laws of this 
State. The Courts of Chancery proceed without jury, but may 
call a jury for the trial of contested facts, or send the issue to 
the Circuit Court for such trial there. The Eegister in each dis- 
trict is to the Court of Chancery, what the Clerk in each county 
is to the Circuit Court, except that his powers and duties are more 
extended and his discretion greater. He administers all oaths in 
Chancery cases, and issues all process from his court, makes or- 
ders of publication for defendants, grants decrees pro-confesso, 
hears exceptions, issues attachments and process of sequestra- 
tion, performs the duties of Master, makes interlocutory decrees 
and orders in vacation within certain restrictions, appoints re- 
ceivers in vacation, and discharges many other important and 
necessary duties. The Sheriff is the ministerial officer of the 
Court of Chancery. ■ ■ 

Probate Courts. A Judge, styled Judge of Probate, is 
elected in each county by the qualified voters thereof, once in 
every six years, at the general election on the first Monday in 
August. Vacancies in his office are filled by the Governor. This 
Judge gives bond in a sum not less than $5,000, and is paid fees. 
He has original jurisdiction of the estates of decedents, minors, 
and persons of unsound mind ; of the probate of wills ; granting 
and revoking letters testamentary and of administration; the 
control of executors and administrators; the appointment and 
removal of guardians for minors and those of unsound mind ; the 
binding out of apprentices and settling their disputes with mas- 
ters; the allotment of dower in most cases; the partition of 
lands within their comity ; changing the names of persons ; and 
of many other important matters. The Judge of Probate may 

* ?3,000 untU after 1880. 



19 

also administer oaths iiji a great variety of cases ; and grant writs 
of habeas corpus, and writs of certiorari on any civil judgment of a 
Justice returnable into the Circuit Court. All deeds, convey- 
ances, and other instruments required by law to be recorded, must 
be recorded in his office. 

Justices of the Peace. Every county is divided into con- 
venient election precincts, and within the limits of each of these 
are two Justices of the Peace, elected every four years, by the 
qualified voters of the precinct.* Vacancies in the ofi&ce of Jus- 
tice of the Peace are filled by the Governor. A Justice gives 
bond in the sum of $1,000 and is paid fees. The Justice has 
original jurisdiction within his county of all actions founded on 
contract when the sum claimed does not exceed $100 ;f of all ac- 
tions founded on any wrong or injury, except slander, where the 
damages do not exceed $50 ; of all actions of forcible entry and 
unlawful detainer ; of all actions brought to recover specific prop- 
erty, where the value does not exceed |50.| Except in a few 
cases the Justice proceeds without jury. In his ministerial ca- 
pacity, a Justice has authority to administer oaths and take affi- 
davits, except where the power is expressly restricted to some 
other officer, and to take and certify the acknowledgment or pro- 
bate of deeds and conveyances required to be recorded. The 
criminal jurisdiction of a Justice, within his county, extends to 
the arrest, examination and discharge or commitment of all per- 
sons charged with felony or the higher grades of misdemeanors ; 
and, concurrently with the County Court, he has jurisdiction, 
with the right of appeal only, of violations of Sunday, vagrancy, 
assaults, assaults and batteries, and affrays in which no stick or 
other weapon is used, and, when the value of the commodity does 
not exceed $10, of larceny, obtaining money under false pre- 
tenses, embezzlement and receiving stolen or embezzled goods. 
He is, also, charged with a duty in reference to the failure of per- 
sons to work the public roads, deserters from ships, estrays, 
trespass by cattle upon enclosed land, and in many other im- 
portant instances.§ He has jurisdiction, also, for the purpose of 
binding over persons to keep the peace; in bastardy cases; and 
for the issuance of search warrants. In all cases tried before a 
Justice, the right of appeal, without prepayment of costs is se- 

* The next election for Justices of tlie Peace -will be in August, 1S80. After tlaat 
they are to be elected every four years. The last election was in August, 1877. 

t If the suiip. claimed does not exceed $50 he hg^ exdvMve jurisdiction. When 
it exceeds $50, and does not exceed $100, he has jurisdiction concurrently with the 
Circuit Courts. Where the sum claimed exceeds $100, he has no jurisdiction at all. 

X A Justice has no jurisdiction in ejectment. 

§ The Justice, as a rule, proceeds without jury. 



20 

cured by the Constitution. The Constable* is the ministerial 
officer of the court of a Justice.f 

County Court. The Judge of Probate is, ex-officio, Judge 
of this court, which has original jurisdiction, concurrently with the 
Circuit and City Courts, of all misdemeanors committed within 
the county. As such Judge, he gives bond in the sum of $5,000, 
and is paid fees. The Judge of the County Court is, also, its 
Clerk, but he has power to employ a Clerk at his own expense. 
This court holds monthly terms, but, in the discretion of the 
Judge, it may be opened any day for the trial of offenses of which 
it has cognizance, where the party charged cannot give bond for 
his appearance at the monthly term, or desires an immediate 
trial. The County Court proceeds without jury, unless the party 
demands a jury trial, in which case he is bound over for trial in 
the Circuit or City Court. Appeals lie from the County to the 
Circuit or City Court. Tlge sheriff is its ministerial officer.| 

The Courts of County Commissioners. In each county, there 
is a Court of Eecord, styled the Court of County Commissioners, 
composed of the Judge of Probate, as principal Judge, and four 
Commissioners, elected by the qualified voters of the county 
every four years, at the election on the first Monday in August.§ 
In case of a vacancy, it is filled by the Governor. These Com- 
missioners are paid by the day for the time they are in attendance 
on the sittings of the court. Eegular terms of this court are held 
on the second Monday in February and August, and the first 
Monday in April and November : but the time of holding such 
terms may be changed by the Court to suit the public convenience. 
Special terms when necessary may, also, be held. This court 
possesses original jurisdiction in relation to the establishment, 
change, or discontinuance of roads, bridges, causeways, and fer- 
ries, within the county ; and has authority to direct and control 
the property of the county ; to levy a general tax, for general, 
and a special tax, for particular county purposes ; to examine, 
settle, and allow all accounts and claims chargeable against the 
county ; to examine and audit the accounts of all officers having 

* For the qualifications, term of office, powers and duties of the Constable, see 
that title, potsi, Codnty Organization. 

t In addition to the regularly elected Justices, the Governor may appoint Notaries 
Public, with the jurisdiction of Justices. See ante. Constitution, Art. VI, sec. 26. 

t For the organization and jurisdiction of the City Courts, reference is had to 
the several special statutes creating those courts. As a rule, it may be said, they are 
each presided over by a single Judge, that their officers are a Clerk and the Sheriff, 
and that, within their respective districts, they have jurisdiction concurrent with the 
Circuit Courts. 

§ The last election for County Commissioners was in August, 1877. The next will 
be in August, 1880 . After that, they will be elected every four years. 



11 

tlie care, matiagement, collection or disbursement oi money be 
longing to the county, or appropriated lor its use and benefit; to 
make rules and regulations for the support of the poor in the 
county; and to exercise such other lowers as are, or may be, 
given it by the laws of this State. 

COUNTY OEGAiflZATIOK. 

At present, the State is divided into sixty-six counties, varying 
considerably in area and population ; but each a body corporate.* 
The General Assembly may, by a two-thirds vote, change the 
boundaries of a county ; but no new county can be formed of less 
extent than 600 square miles, and no existing county can be^ re- 
duced below that area, and no new county can be formed which 
does not contain a sufficient number of inhabitants to entitle it to 
one representative, and, at the same time, leave the county or 
counties from which it is taken with population enough to entitle 
it or them to separate representation.! 

The County Seat is the chief town in a county, where are 
located the county buildings, such as the county court-house, 
county jail, etc., and where the officials of the county reside and 
keep their offices. These officials are : 

A Judge of Probate, who is, also. Judge of the County 
Court, and principal Judge of the Court of County Commis- 
sioners.! 

Four County Commissioners, who, with the Judge of Pro- 
bate, compose the Court of County Commissioners. § 

Two Justices of the Pea^e in each election precinct. || 

A Circuit Court Clerk, elected by the qualified voters of 
the county, every six years on the first Monday in August, and 
vacancies in whose office are filled by the Governor. The Circuit 
Clerk gives bond in the sum of $LO,oOO, is paid fees, and charged 
with the duty and clothed with authority, to issue and sign all 
summons, writs, subpoenas, executions, and process emanating 
from his court, to keep the papers, books, dockets, and records 
belonging to his court, and to administer oaths and take affidavits 
in all cases in which the authority is not restricted to some other 

* For the names of tliese counties, with their respective county seats, areas, and 
population, see Appendix . 

t See ante. Constitution, Art. II, sec. 2. 

X The powers and duties of this oflBcer In each of the capacities named, were fully 
stated, when treating of the judiciaJ branch of the State Organization, ante. 

§ See ante, State Organization. 

II For qualifications, powers, and duties of Justices of the Peace, see ante, State 
Organization. 



22 

officer. He may appoint a deputy, or deputies, and invest him of 
them with full power to act in his stead. 

A Sheriff, elected by the qualified voters of the county every 
four years on the first Monday in August,* and vacancies in whose 
office are filled by the Governor. The SherifPgivesbondinasumnot 
less than $5,000, and receives his compensation in fees and commis- 
sions. He must have one deputy, and may have as many more 
as he thinks proper. The h:heriff is the ministerial officer of the 
Courts of Record in his county, and, either in person or by dep- 
uty, attends upon their sessions.f He is required to execute 
and return the process and orders of these courts, as well as of 
all other courts of record and officers of competent authority in 
the State. He is the custodian of the court house and jail of his 
county. His criminal authority is very extensive. He is the 
chief conservator of the peace within his county ; has the safe 
keeping of all prisoners within his jurisdiction, and is charged 
with the duty of carrying into execution the sentences of the 
courts upon them. When the office of Sheriff is vacant, until 
filled by the Governor, and when the Sheriff, by reason of inter- 
est or from any other cause, is incompetent to act, the Coroner 
of the county discharges the duties of the office.^ 

A Constable in each election precinct, elected by the quali- 
fied voters of the precinct every four years, on the first Monday 
in August,§ and vacancies in whose office are filled by the Gov- 
ernor. The Constable gives bond in the sum of $1,000, and is 
paid fees. He is the ministerial officer of the Justices' Courts 
in his precinct, and a conservator of the peace within the county. 
In addition to his other duties, he is required to attend the terms 
of the Circuit Courts when summoned by the Sheriff for that 
purpose, and to execute and return all summons, executions, and 
other process to him directed by any lawful authority. 

A Coroner, elected by the qualified voters of the county 
every four years, on the first Monday in August, || and vacancies 
in whose office are filled by the Governor. The Coroner gives 
bond in the sum of $2,000, and is paid fees. It is the general 
duty of the Coroner to hold inquests, and perform other duties 

* The last election for Sheriffs was in August, 1877; the next will be In August, 
1880 ; after that, they will be elected, every four years, as stated. 

t The Constable is the ministerial officer of the Justices' Courts in his precinct, and. 
attends upon their sessions; but the Sheriff may, if he chooses, act as Constable. 

t The Sheriff is a branch of the State Executive Department, See ante. Consti- 
tution, Art. V, sec, 1, 

§ The last election for Constables was in August, 1877.; the next will be in August, 
1880; after that, they will be elected every four years, as stated, 

II The last election for Coroners was in August, 1877; the next will be in August, 
1880 ; after that, they will be elected every four years, as stated. 



^3 

as required by law. He acts as Sheriff when that office is vacant, 
and until a successor is appointed by the Governor ; so, too, when 
the Sheriff is imi risoned, or is a party, and in other cases, when 
directed by the Judge of Probate.* 

A County Treasurer, elected by the qualified voters of the 
county every four years, on the first Monday in August,! and va- 
cancies in whose office are filled by the G-overnor. He gives bond 
in double of the estimated amount of the county revenue, and is 
paid such compensation as may be allowed him by the Court of 
County Commissioners, in no case exceeding five per centum on 
the money paid out by him, nor in any case, exceeding the aggre- 
gate sum of $1,000 in any one year. It is the duty of the County 
Treasurer to receive and keep the money of his county, and to 
disburse the same according to law. 

A Tax Assessor, elected by the qualified voters of the 
county, every four years on the first Monday in August,^ and 
vacancies in whose office are filled by the Governor. Gives bond 
in the sum of $2,000, and is i aid commissions. He is charged 
with the duty of properly assessing, and returning for collection, 
the State and county revenue within his county. 

A Tax Collector, elected by the qualified voters of the 
county, every four years, on the first Monday in August,§ and 
vacancies in whose office are filled by the Governor. His bond 
is in double the probable amount of taxes at any one time in his 
hands, and he is paid commissions on his collections. It is the 
duty of the Tax Collector to collect and faithfully pay over all 
taxes returned to him for collection, by the Assessor of the 
county. 

A County Surveyor, appointed and removable by the Court 
of County Commissioners, and who holds office for three years, 
and is paid fees. It is the duty of the County Surveyor to exe- 
cute and return all orders of surveys directed to him from any 
Court of Eecord in the State ; and make all surveys of land or 
lots in the county, at the request of any person interested therein, 
on payment or tender of his fees. 

A County Superintendent of Education, appointed and 
removable by the State ^Superintendent of Education, who also, 
fijxes the amount of his bond. He is paid $75 per annum, and 

* The Judge of Probate may appoint a special Coroner, when necessary. 

t The last election for County Treasurers was in August, 1877; the nest will be in 
August, 1880 ; after chat, they will be elected every four years , as stated. 

X rhe last election for Tax \ssessors was in vugust, 1877; the next wiU be in 
August, 1880 ; after that, they will be elected every four years, as stated. 

§ The last election for Tax CoUectoi-s was in Vugust, :877; the next will be in 
August, 1880; after that, they will be elected every four years, as stated. 



^4 

one per cent, upon the amount of all the educational fund dis- 
bursed by him, and has supervision of public school matters in 
his county.* 

POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 

The political divisions of the State are Counties, Senatorial 
l)istricts, and Congressional Districts. 

The Counties, of which, at present, there are sixty-six, are 
entitled to representation in the Lower House of the General 
Assembly, according to the number of inhabitants in them, re- 
specti ely ; but each is entitled to at least one Eepresentative. 
The present apportionment is prescribed by Art. IX, sec. 6, of 
the State Constitution.f The next will be according to the Fed- 
eral census of 1880 ; and the next according to the census ten 
years thereafter; and so on. Representatives receive four dol- 
lars a day during the time the General Assembly is in- session;! 
and mileage, at the rate of ten cents a mile going to and return- 
ing from the seat of government.§ 

The Senatorial Districts. The State, at present, is divided 
into thirty-three Senatorial Districts, numbered from one to 
thirty-three, consecutively ;|| and each of these is entitled to one 
Senator, and no more, in the State Senate. Until after the de- 
cennial census of the United States in 1880, the Senatorial Dis- 
tricts wi 1 be in accordance with Art. IX, sec. 7, of the Constitu- 
tion of Alabama.** After that time the General Assembly is re- 
quired to fix the number of Senators and re-adjust. the Districts, 
so as to mak(5 the lat er as nearly equal in point of population as 
possible. Senators are allowed the same pay and mUeage as Rep- 
resentatives.ft 

* In most of the counties, tliere are subordinate officials, such as the County 
Physician, Keeper of the County Poorhouse, etc; hut these offices are the creations of 
the Courts of County Commissioners, which fill them, prescribe the tenure of office, 
compensation, etc. 

t See ante. Constitution. 

X The sessions of the General Assembly are limited to fifty days. See ante. Consti- 
tution, Art. IV, Sec. 5. 

§ Representatives are chosen biennially, on the .first Monday in August, by the 
qualified voters of the county. 

II For Senatorial Districts, see appBNDix. 

** See a .te Constitution. 

tt Ithough Senators hold their offices for four years, one-half of their number are, 
by a wise provision of the Constitution, chosen biennially, to preserve in that body a 
due proportion of experienced members. To accomplish this, the Constitution, Art. 
IV, sec. 9, prescribed that at the general election in 1876, Senators from the even 
numbered Districts Should be elected for two years, and those from the odd numbered 
for four years. 



^5 

The Gongregsional Districts. The State is divided, at 
present, into eight Congressional Districts,* in eadh of which 
there is chosen biennially on the first Tuesday after the first 
Monday in November, by the qualified voters of the District, one 
Eepresentative to the Congress of the United States. These 
Eepresentatives are commissioned by the Governor of the State, 
and are paid from the Treasury of the United States.f t 

ELECTION LAWS. 

Officers Elected by the People. The following officers in 
this State are elected by the qualified voters thereof: Governor, 
Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Auditor, Attorney Gen- 
eral, Superintendent of Education, Senators and Eepresentatives 
of the General Assembly, Chief Justice and Associate Justices 
of the Supreme Court, Judges of the Circuit Courts, Chancellors, 
Judges of the Probate Courts, and Judges of other inferior courts 
in cases not otherwise provided for by law, Sheriffs, Coroners, 
and Clerks of the Circuit Court, Tax Assessors, Tax Collectors, 
County Treasurers, County Commissioners, Constables, "Justices 
of the Peace, Eepresentatives in Congress, and Electors for 
President and Vice President of the United States. § 

Who May Vote. The following persons are qualified to 
vote for all officerselected by the people of this State: Every 
male citizen of the United States, and every male person of for- 
eign birth, who has been naturalized, or who may have legally 
declared his intention of becoming a citizen of the United States 
before he offers to vote, and who is twenty-one years old, and 
has resided one year in the State, three months in the county, 
and thirty days in the ward or precinct. But no one may vote 
who has been convicted of treason, embezzlement of public 
funds, malfeasance in ofSce, larceny, bribery, or other crime pun- 
ishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary, or who is an idiot or 
lunatic. Persons must vote in the ward or precinct of their ac. 
tual residence. 

* For Congressional Districts, see Appendix. 

t Alabama has two Senators-in the Federal Congress, elected by the General As- 
sembly on joint baUot, and commissioned by the Governor, but paid from the Treas- 
ury of the United States. 

t In the Electoral College for President and Vice-President of the United States, 
Alabama has ten votes, and the electors are voted for by the qualified voters of the 
State, every four years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The 
next election will be in 1880. 

§ For the times when these oflScials are, respectively, elected, see eachhead, undez* 
State, or Coontt Okganization, or Political Divisions, ante. 



Registration of Voters. The law of this State requires as 
a preliminaa'y to voting, and in order to preserve the purity of 
the ballot, that every voter shall, before he offers to vote, be 
pro ]:»erly registered, and a certificate to that effect given him; 
and to that end, there is a Eegistrar appointed in each county, 
who has one assistant in each precinct and ward. It is the duty 
of these officials to make this registration, and issue these cer- 
tificates. 

LAWS RELATING TO HOLDmG OFFICE. 

Who may Hold Office. By the laws of this State, the 
persons ineligible to and disqualified from holding office in Ala- 
bama, are: Those who are not male persons of the age of 
twenty-one years , those who have not been inhabitants of the 
State, county, district, or circuit, the period required by the 
Constitution and the laws of the State; those who have been 
convicted of treason, embezzlement of public funds, malfeasance 
in office, larceny, bribery, or other crime punishable by imprison- 
ment in the penitentiary ; and those who are idiots or insane ; 
those who have in this State, or in any of the United States, 
given, accepted, or knowingly carried a challenge to fight with 
deadly weapons ; those against whom there is a judgment unpaid 
for any money received by them in any official capacity, due to 
the United States, this State, or any county thereof; soldiers, 
seamen, or marines, in- the regular army, or navy of the United 
States ; and those holding offices of profit under the United 
States, except postmasters whose annual salary does not exceed 
two hundred dollars.* With these exceptions, all persons resi- 
dent in this State, born in the United States, or naturalized, or 
who have legally declared their intention to become citizens of 
the United States, may hold office in this State. 

Oath of Office. The only oath required of a person elected 
to office in this State is, that he will faithfully support the Consti- 
tution of the United States, and that of Alabama ; that he will 
faithfully discharge the duties of his office ; and that he has never 
been, nor during his continuance in office, will be concerned 
in a duel with a citizen of this State. 



* No person can hold two oflaees of profit at one and the same time under this 
State, except Justices of the Peace, Constables, Notaries Public and Commissioners of 
Deeds. 



Part Third, 



Synopsis of the Tax Laws, and other Important Statutes of 

Alabama. 



TAX LAWS OF ALABAMA.* 

The Auditor of the State is the head of its financial depart- 
ment; has supervision of its fiscal affairs; and prescribes the 
farms employed in assessing and collecting its revenue. The Tax 
ofl&cers of the State, are the Tax Assessors and Tax Collectors — 
every county having one of each.f The Tax Year begins January 
1st. Assessments commence May 1st, and must be completed July 
1st, with leave to the Assessors, until September 1st, to file sup- 
plemental returns of property escaping assessment prior to July 
1st. The Assessor is required to give due notice of the times and 
places within the county at which he will attend to receive re- 
turns of taxable property — and those liable must be present ; but 
non-residents, females, and infirm persons may send sworn lists. 
If any person liable to taxation fails to attend, or, being excused 
from attending, fails to send a sworn list of his taxable property, 
the Assessor must make demand on him for a return in person if 
he can be found, otherwise by leaving a written notice at his 
place of residence ; and for each such demand or notice, the As- 
sessor is entitled to a fee of fifty cents, to be entered on the de- 
linquent's tax list, and collected by the Tax Collector. If the 
party still fails to make a return, and does not do so prior to June 
1st, the Assessor must, himself, mak^ the return from the best 
data within his reach. When the assessments are completed, 
the Assessor's book is deposited with the Probate Judge of the 
county, in whose of&ce it remains, open for inspection. Errors 
in assessments are corrected on appeal, by the Court of County 
Commissioners, at its August term, at which time, this court, 
also, fixes the rate of taxation to be levied for county purposes, 

* By Tax Lawt, are here intended the general laws of the State, governing the as- 
sessment and collection of the State and county revenue; and not those of any partic- 
ular city, town, or district. 

t The Probate Judges collect the iicenae taxes. 



iiot to exceed one-half of one per cent, on the value of the tax <■ 
able property of the county, as assessed for State revenue.* 
State and county taxes are due October 1st, and delinquent, De- 
cember 31st. The Tax Collector is required to give due notice of 
the times and places, within the county, at which he will attend 
to receive payment, and tax payers must meet him. These ap- 
pointments must be completed prior to December 31st. After that 
time, the Collector must make demand on each delinquent for 
payment — in person" if he can be found, otherwise by written* 
notice left at his place of residence, and for each such demand or 
notice the Collector is entitled to a fee of fifty cents. 

Tax returns must be sworn to, and false swearing in this 
regard is perjury, and punishable as such. 

PERSONS EXEMPT FROM TAXATION. 

1. Females ; males under 21 or over 45 years of age ; deaf 
mutes ; insane persons ; blind persons ; and permanently disa- 
bled persons, whose taxable property does not exceed $500 ; are 
exempt from Poll Tax. 

2. Individual shareholders are exempt from taxation on their 
shares of capital stock, in any company or corporation required 
to list its property for taxation. 

PROPERTY EXEMPT FROM TAXATION 

1. The property of deaf mutes, insane and blind persons, to 
the value of $1,000. 

2. The property of the United States. 

3. The property of this State, its counties, and other muni- 
cipal corporations. 

4. Bonds of the United States and this State. 

5. Cemeteries. 

6. Lots in incorporated cities or towns, or within one mile of 
the same, to the extent of one acre, and lots one mile or more 
distant from such cities or towns, to the extent of five acres, 
with the buildings thereon ; when used exclusively for i eligious 
worship, for schools, or for purposes purely charitable. 

7. The property of public Agricultural or Horticultural asso- 
ciations of this State, to the value of $25,000, each. 

8. The property of literary and scientific institutions, and 
literary societies, used in the regular business of such institu- 
tions. 

* See ante, Constitution, Art, XI. sec. 5, Proviso, for exceptions. 



29 

9. The Libraries of Ministers of the Gospel ; and all libraries 
except professional libraries ; and all religious books kept for sale 
by ministers and colporteurs. 

10. Family portraits. 

11. The following property, to be selected by the head of 
each family, viz : Household and kitchen furniture to the value 
of $150 f one yoke of oxen; one cart or wagon; two cows and 
calves ; twenty head of stock hogs ; ten head of sheep ; all poul- 

,try ; all corn, provisions, and supplies on hand for the current 
year for the use of the family and the making of a crop ; all wear- 
ing apparel ; all looms and spinning wheels kept for use in the 
family; farming tools to the value of $25; tools and implements 
of mechanics to the value of $25. 

PERSONS SUBJECT TO TAXATION. 

Unless included under the head of persons exempt, every 
inhabitant of this State, is subject to an annua' poll-tax of one 
dollar and fifty cents; applied exclusively in aid of the public 
school fund in the county, in which it is levied and collected. 

property subject to taxation. 

Unless included under the head of property exempt, the 
following is subject to an ad valorum tax of seven-tenths of one 
per cent., for State purposes:* f 

1. Lands, with the improvements thereon. 

2. Wharves and wharf boats, toll bridges and ferries, turn- 
pikes, and passes, channels, or canals, where tolls are charged. 

3. Street railroads. 

4. Printing presses and materials. 

5. Steamboats, vessels, and other water craft plying in the 
navigable waters of this State. 

6. Stocks of goods, wares, and merchandise— to be assessed 
upon the largest amount on hand at any one time during the pre- 
ceeding tax year ; and including merchandise kept on plantations 
for sale, or to be dealt out to laborers for profit. 

7 Household furniture ; libraries ; jewelry; plate and silver- 
ware ; ornaments and articles of taste ; pianos and other musical 
instruments ; paintings ; clocks, and gold and silver watches, and 

* The question of a reduction of this rate is now being agitated, and It is more 
than probable that it will be reduced at the 1878 session of the General Assembly, as 
it seems to be the general impression that such reduction can bo made, and the State 
still enabled to meet its obligations. 

t See Constitution, Art. XI, for restrictions on the power to tax. 



30 

gold safety chains ; wagons, and other vehicles ; mechanical tools ; 
farming implements ; dirks, bowie-knives, sword-canes, pistols, 
and guns ; cattle, horses, mules, studs, jacks and jennets, and 
race horses, hogs, sheep, and goats. 

8. Money hoarded, or kept on deposit subject to order, ex- 
cept funds held subject to draft in the prosecution of a regular 
exchange business. 

9. Money loaned, and solvent credits, less actual indebted- 
ness of taxpayer. 

10. Money employed in buying and trading in paper, or in 
regular exchange business, or invested in paper, whether by in- 
dividuals or corporations, unless such money is otherwise taxed 
as capital. 

11. The capital stock of all companies incorporated under 
any law of this State, except such portion as is invested in 
property and otherwise taxed as property. 

12. Bonds, except those of the United States and this State, 
and such other as are not, by law, taxable. 

13. The bed, track, and all other property of railroads. 

14. All other property, real and personal, not otherwise spec- 
ified herein. 

On the Following, the rate for State purposes, is, also, seven- 
tenths of one per cent : 

1. On all salaries, gains, incomes, and profits for the preced- 
ing tax year. 

2. Gross receipts of telegraph and sleeping-car companies. 
On the Following, the rate for State purposes, is three- 
fourths of one per cent : 

1. On all commission sales, after deducting expenses of bus- 
iness. 

2. On all commissions earned by insurance agents. 

3. On receipts of cotton pickeries, after deducting expenses 
of carrying on business. 

4. On amount received for storage on cotton or other mer- 
chandise, after deducting expenses of business. 

5. On income of gas-works, water works, and public mills 
and gins, after deducting expenses of business. 

6. On dividends earned, but not divided, by any incorporated 
company, and not otherwise assessed. 

7. On shares of the stock of Katiojial and savings banks, to 
be paid by the association, and to be in lieu of all other taxes, 
State, county, or city. 



3' 

On the Following, the rate for State purposes, is one per 
cent : 

1. On gross amount of premiums of Home and Foreign In- 
surance Companies, after deducting expenditures, losses paid, and 
return premiums. 

On the Following, the rate for State purposes is one-fourth 
of one per c nt : 

1. On all auction sales, to be paid by auctioneer ; but on sales 
-by the cargo, the rate is one-eighth of one per cent. 

PKOCEEDINGS TO BNFOBCE THE COLLECTION OF TAXES. 

After January 1st, it becomes the duty of the Collector to en 
force payment of taxes by levy and sale of property, and no 
property is exempt from sale for taxes. The Collector may also 
resort to process of garnishment. Personal property seized for 
taxes, may be sold on ten days notice ; and no redemption of per- 
sonal property is allow*: d. If, after diligent search, the Collector 
fails to find sufficient personalty to satisfy the tax and charges, 
he may then, and not until then, resort to the real property of the 
taxpayer. 

By March 1st, the Tax Collector is required to file in the office 
of his Probate Judge, a certified list of all tax delinquents in his 
county, against whom taxes have been assessed, when a portion 
or all of such taxes is on land or lots ; together with a statement 
of the amount of unpaid taxes and charges due by each delin- 
quent ; and a list of the lands and lots assessed to him. The list 
must, also, contain lands and lots assessed to "owner unknown," 
with the taxes and charges due thereon. 

The Collector must then give notice by legal publication in 
some newspaper in his county, or, when there is none, by proper 
posting, that he will, at the next (April) term of the Probate 
Court, apply for a decree for the sale of such lands and lots in 
satisfaction of delinquent taxes, unless paid before that time; 
and that he will, beginning May 1, thereafter, sell such as are de- 
creed to be sold, at public auction, at the court house door. The 
Probate Judge, after the filing of this list, must issue a written 
notice to each delinquent known and residing in the county, in- 
forming him of the filing of the list and application to the Court 
for decree. 

Any delinquent may appear at the hearing and contest the ap- 
plication and relieve himself from liability : — 

1. By showing that the assessment was erroneous ; and pay- 
ing so much thereof as the court adjudges. 



32 

2. By paying the full amount of the taxes assessed against 
him for the preceeding tax year, and all costs. 

3. By showing that he paid the taxes assessed against him 
for the preceding tax year, b fore the filing of the complaint. 

4. By showing that he had in his possession in the county a 
sufficient amount of visible personal property, out of which the 
taxes might have been collected, or that, upon demand for such 
personal property, he delivered to the Tax Collector a sufficient 
amount thereof for the satisfaction of his taxes ; in either event, 
upon payment of the amount of his unpaid taxes, he must be dis- 
charged, without costs. 

If delinquent fails to discharge himself, the Probate Court 
renders a decree for the sale of his lands or lots ; but delinquent 
is allowed an appeal to the Circuit Court, upon executing an ap- 
peal bond. 

When the court has rendered its decree, the Collector gives 
legal notice, by newspaper publication, or posting, that he will 
begin the sale of the lands and lots decreed against, on the first 
Monday in May next thereafter, and continue the sale from day to 
day, until all are disposed of. 

CERTIFICATES OF PURCHASE; REDEMPTION OF; AND DEEDS TO 
LANDS, SOLD FOR TAXES. 

On the purchase of land, at tax sale, the Tax Collector is re- 
quired to give the purchaser a proper certificate of purchase ; 
which certificate is assignable by endorsement. The State, 
through its Tax Collector, buys in land, which has failed to sell 
for enough to pay taxes and charges, and he m <kes and delivers 
to the State Auditor, a certificate of purchase, for the State. 
Land bought in by the State is not assessed again until redeemed. 
Land sold for taxes may be redeemed at any time within two 
years from date of sale, and as well from the State as individuals, 
by refunding to the purchaser the purchase money paid, and pay- 
ing him 12 per cent, penalty thereon, and legal interest, and pay- 
ing all unpaid taxes on the land which have subsequently ac- 
crued. If not redeemed, at the expiration of the two years, the 
Probate Judge must make absolute deed to purchaser. 

BUSINESS LICENSES REQUIRED IN ALABAMA.* 

Licenses must be taken out from the Probate Judge, and 

*The licenses alluded to here, are State^and County licenses. Cities and other mu- 
nicipal corporations may, also, impose licenses, which are regulated by their owm 
ordinances. 



33 

those doing business without are liable to indictmeiit and punish- 
ment.* Licenses are not transferable, and entitle the holder to do 
business only at the place specified therein. All licenses expire 
December 31st, and are for one year, unless the business is com- 
menced after July 1st, when the license is for half year; but for 
a retail liquor license taken out after January 1st, the price is the 
same as the license for a whole year. 

THE PRICES OF LICENSES. * 

1. For each public race track, at or wif^in five miles of any 
city or town of less than five thousand inhabitants — $100. 

2. For such track, at or within five miles of any city or town 
of more than five thousand inhabitants — $200. 

3. For retailers t of spirituous, vinous, or malt | liquors, on 
any steamboat or water craft— $100. § 

4. For retailers of same in any city, town, or village, of less 
than one thousand inhabitants, or any other place — $50. 

5. For retailers of same in any city, town, or village, of more 
than one thousand, and less than five thousand inhabitants - $100. 

6. For retailers of same in any city of over five thousand in- 
habitants— $125. || ** 

7. For wholesale dealers in spiritous, vinous, or malt liquors 
in any place of less than one thousand inhabitants — $30. 

8. For same dealers in place of over one thousand and under 
three thousand inhabitants — $50. 

9. For same dealers in city of over three thousand inhab- 
itants-$75.tt 

* The Courts of County Coramissioners are authorized to add to these prices 
50 per cent, for county purposes. 

t A retailer is one who sells less than a quart ; or permits what he sells to be drunk 
by the glass or single drink in or about his place of business. 

X Dealers in lager beer exclusively, whether on boats or elsewhere, pay one-fourth 
of retail liquor license. 

§ This license may be taken out in any county through which the boat runs, 
which entitles to retail without further license. Boat must keep license posted up In 
plain sight of bar. 

II The Code, Sec. 494, prescribes the following exception to this rate, viz : "Each 
retailer of spirituous, vinous, or malt liquors, outside of the following described limits 
in the city of Mobile, to-wit : Eight bank of Mobile river on the east, Church street 
on the south, Joachim street on the west, St. Michael street on the north, including 
those settled on the north side of St. Michael street, on the west side of Joacjiim and 
on the south aide of Church stareet, shall be charged a State lio^iee of $73. ' ' 

** Betailers axe not required to take out whoiesaJe license. 

tt Wholesale dealers in Mobile, living outside the limits preeoribed alK>T«, aare 
charged $50. 

. Wholesale dealers are those who sell by the quart and upwards, and do not permit 
it to be drunk on or about their premises, 



34 

10. For compounders and rectifiers of spirituous, or vinous, 
liquors— $100. * 

11. For distillers of spiritous liquors— $50. f 

12. For brewers — $15. 

13. For pawnbrokers— $50. 

14. For peddlers in a wagon— -$40. | 

15. For peddlers on a horse— $20. 

16. For peddlers on foot— $10, 

17. For bowling alleys where fees are charged, each alley, 



18. For billiard tables, where fees are charged, each table, 
-$25. § 

19. For pool tables, each- $100. 

20. For each bagatelle or Jenny Lind table, or other table or 
device from which profit is derived to the keeper - $25. 

21. For theatres in towns or cities of less than two thousand 
inhabitants - $25. 

22. For theatres in towns or cities of more than two thous- 
and inhabitants — $50. 

23. For dealers in pistols, bowie-knives, and dirk knives, 
whether the principal stock in trade or not — $50. 

24. For peddlers of medicines or other articles of like char- 
acter, for each county in which they peddle — $25. 

25. For each sewing machine company, selling sewing ma- 
chines, by itself or its agents, as a State tax — $100. || 

26. For each circus exhibition in towns or cities of more than 
five thousand inhabitants — $100. 

27. For each circus exhibition in all other places- 

28. For each exhibition of a menagerie or museum- 

29. For each exhibition of a side show, accompanying a 
circus, menagerie or museum— $10. 

30. For concerts, musical entertainments, and public lectures, 
where charges are. made for admission, and not given for chari- 
table purposes, each entertainment — $5. 

* Wholesale dealers who pay, as such, a license tax equal to or larger than this, 
are exempt from this tax. 

t Does not apply to distillation of fruit. 

.J 1 peddler's license entitles him to peddle only in county where taken out, unless 
he is a disabled citizen of this State, or is peddling the productions or manufactures of 
Alabama. 

§ 1 he same amount is requifed to be paid on every table oa the premises where a 
bar or drinking saloon is kept, whether its use is chai-ged for or not. 

II The payment ot this tax to the State, evideaced by the receipt of any Probate 
Judge, exempts the company from payment of this State tax in any other county; but 
in each county in which the compjiny has an agent, a license of twenty dollars must 
be paid for county purposes. 



35 

31. For each shooting gallery- 

32. For each chicken or cock pit 

INN, HOTEL, AND BOAEDING HOUSE, LICENSES. * f 

1. Inns or hotels in towns of twenty-five hundred inhabitants, 
or less— $20. 

2. Inns or hotels in towns of more than twenty-five hundred 
and less than five thousand inhabitants — $30. 

3. Inns or hotels in towns of between five thousand and ten 
thousand inhabitants — $50. 

4. Inns or hotels in towns of more than ten thousand inhab- 
itants— $75. J 

IMPORTANT STATUTES OF ALABAMA. 

MISCELLANEOUS CODE PROVISIONS. 

"Oath" includes affirmation. 

"Writing" includes printing on paper. 

"Month" means calendar month, and "Year" calendar year, 
unless otherwise expressed. 

"Signature," or "Subscription," includes mark, party's name 
being written near, and attested by one witness, thus : 

his 

Richard x Roe : John Doe, witness. § 

Words giving joint authority to thre*' or more, give such au- 
thority to a majority, unless otherwise declared. 

Writings importing on their face to be under seal, are to be 
taken as sealed, and have the same effect as if the seals of the 
parties were aflBxed. 



CD 



A simple scroll C J made with pen or pencil, and with 

or without the word seal, written therein, is sufiBcient sealing. 

Time is computed by excluding first, and including last day. 
When last day falls on Sunday, it, too, must be excluded. 

The standard of measure, length, surface, weight, and capacity 
in force in this State, is the Congressional. 

* This tax is divided between the State and county. 

t Inn or hotel keepers, who pay license, are exempt from all other income tax on 
their business as such. 

J Houses or places for the entertainment of boarders, lodgers, transient persons, 
and other guests, may be kept anywhere in the State, without the payment of a license 
tax, but must pay a State tax of three-fourths of one perceut, on the net iQcomeof 
such business, and to the county a tax of one-hali of one per cent. en. same. Tax to 
be assessed on business of proceeding year. But not less than $10 to the State and 
^5 to the county must be paid. 

§ The name of the witness may be written anywhere near. If the mark is intended 
as a signature to a conveyance of land, there must be two attesting witnesses. 



36.' 

BUSpSSS LAWS. 

The legal rate of interest in this state, is 8 per cent. 

Inland Bills of Exchange, are bills drawn and payable in 
this State. 

Foreign Bills of Exchange, are bills drawn in this State, pay- 
able elsewhere. 

Bills of exchange and promissory notes, pa.^able in money 
at a bank or private banking house, or a certain place of payment 
therein designated, are governed by the commercial law. 

All other paper payable in money at a bank or private banking 
house, is governed by the commercial law as to days of grace, 
protest, and notice. 

Ko other paper is entitled to grace. 

Paper due on legal holiday, must be paid the day before, and 
if that is Sunday, then on Saturday. 

Acceptance of bills must be in writing, signed by acceptor or 
his agent. 

Holder may require acceptance to be written on bill ; and, on 
refusal, protest for non-acceptance. 

Eefusal to return a bill within 24 hours, is equivalent to an ac- 
ceptance. 

Sets-off against all but commercial paper allowed, until notice 
of assignment or transfer. iSTo set-off against commercial paper 
not over-due. 

An unconditional promise in writing before a bill is drawn, to 
accept the same, valid as an acceptance. 

Damages on protested bills are 5 per cent on amount drawn 
for, and costs of protest ; with interest at 8 per cent, on the ag- 
gregate sum of principal and damages from the time the former 
was payable. 

If the protest is for non-acceptance, the damages carry in- 
terest from the demand of acceptance. 

When the bill is payable in our currency, damages cover ex- 
change. When the bill is payable in foreign currency, exchange 
must be added. 

VOID CONTRACTS. 

Contracts founded, in whole o' in part, on a gambling consid- 
eration ; and. money, or other valuable, paid on such may be re- 
covered. 

^ Gontraots made on Sunday ; unless for the advancement of 
religion, or in the execution, or for the performance of some work 
of charity, or in case of necessity. 

All instruments made to hinder, delay, or defraud creditors. 



37 

CONTRACTS REQUIRED TO BE IN WRITING. 

In the following cases every agreement is void, unless reduced 
to writing, or some memorandum, expressing the consideration, 
is made thereof, and signed by the party to be charged or his 
agent having written authority : 

Every agreement which, by its terms, is not to be performed 
within one year from the making thereof. 

Every special promise, by an executor or administrator, to 
answer damages out of his own estate. 

Every special promise to answer for the debt, default, or mis- 
carriage of another. 

Every agreement, promise, or undertaking, in consideration of 
marriage, except mutual promises to marry. 

Every contract for the sale of lands, tenements, or heredita- 
ments, or of any interest therein, except leases for a term not 
longer than one year ; unless the purchase money, or a portion 
thereof, is paid, and the purchaser put in possession. 

Every representation of another's character, conduct, ability, 
trade, or dealings, to be actionable, must be in writing. 

THE LAW OF CONVEYANCES.* 

Every person twenty-one years of age, and not under a legal 
incapacity ,t may alien his land, or any interest therein, immediate 
or future, certain or contingent, by an instrument in writing or 
last will. . 

Conveyances for such alienation must be written or printed 
on parchment or paper, and signed at the foot by the contracting 
party or his agent having written authority. If he is unable to 
write, his name must be signed for him^ with the words " his 
mark " written over or against the same.| The execution of such 
conveyance must be attested by one, or where the party cannot 
write, by two witnesses, who are able to write. 

A seal is not necessary to convey the legal title to land, to 
enable the grantee to sue at law, if such was the intention of the 
grantor, to be collected from the whole instrument. 

Acknowledgement dispenses with witness or witnesses. § 

A conveyance executed, and attested, or acknowledged, as 

* Mortgages are embraced in the term Conveyance, and the same regulations are 
applicable to them, as to absolute deeds. 

t The principal legal incapacities are tdiotcy and insanity. 

X See aiUe, page 35. 

§ To acknowledge a conveyance, is for the grantor to admit its voluntary execution, 
before some Judge, Clerk, Justice of the Peace, or Notary, who makes his certificate 
on the conveyance, to that effect. 



38 

above, is sufficient to pass a valid title as against the grantor, his 
heirs, and those not hona fide purchasers without notice, and for 
value. To make the title effective against all persons, the con- 
veyance must, within a specified time,* be recorded in the office 
of the Probate Judge of the county where the land lies. 

Conveyances to be admitted to record on proof, must in all cases 
be attested by two witnesses.! Conveyances proven or acknowl- 
edged according to law, and recorded within twelve months, are 
receivable in evidence without further proof; and if lost or de- 
stroyed, or out of the party's power to produce, certified tran- 
scripts may be received. 

Ko writing is necessary to the conveyance of personal pro i^erty; 
but verbal gifts of such are inoperative until possession passes. 

Conveyances by a married woman of any interest in real 
property, stocks in incorporated companies, or shares in manu- 
facturing companies, to be valid at all, must be attested by two 
witnesses, or acknowledged. 

If a mortgage of personal property be reduced to writing, and 
recorded in the county of the mortgagor, and that where the 
property is, the record operates as constructive notice; but 
mortgages of personal property are valid without writing. 

Attornment of tenant is dispensed with. 

Conveyances of land are construed as conveyances of the 
fee, unless otherwise limited. 

ISo lease is valid for a longer time than twenty years. 

Survivorship among joint tenants is abolished, unless plainly 
intended. 

Livery of seisin is dispensed with. 

A power of sale in a mortgage is part of the security, and fol- 
lows the debt. 

A mortgagee receiving satisfaction, must enter same on rec- 
ord, if the mortgage has been recorded, under a penalty of $200. 

THE LAW OF DOWER. 

The wife is entitled to dower in the following real estate of 
her husband : 

Lands of which he was seised in fee during the marriage. 

* See Code of .labama (1876), Part 2, Title III, Conveyances. 

t To prove a conveyance, is for one of the attesting witnesses to make affidavit be- 
foi-e an officer authorized to take acknowledgements, that the grantor executed the 
same in the presence of affiant and the otlier attesting witness, on the day it bears 
date; that affiant attested the same in the presence of the grantor and the other wit- 
ness; and that the other witness did so in affiant's presence. Whereupon, the officer 
makes his certificate to that effect, on the conveyance, and it is ready for recording. 
Conveyances are admitted to record either upon proof, or acknowledgement. 



39 

Lands of which another was seised in fee to his use. 

Lands to which, at the time of his death he had a perfect 
equity, having paid all the purchase money. 

If the husband's estate is solvent, and he leaves no lineal de- 
scendants, she is entitled to dower in one-half of such lands ; if 
he leaves no lineal descendants, and his estate is insolvent, in 
one-third of such lands ; if he leaves lineal descendants, in one- 
third of such lands, whether his estate is solvent or insolvent. 

A wife can relinquish dower only by joining with her husband 
in the conveyance or mortgage, in the presence of two attesting 
witnesses ;* or by a subsequent release in writing, attested by two 
witnesses, or properly acknowledged. 

Married women may release dower whether 21 years of age, 
or not. 

A married women joining in her husband's conveyance, is not 
bound individually or as to her separate estate, by his covenant 
of warranty; and s'ich act has the effect only of relinquishing her 
dower, unless she specially covenants to bind her separate estate. 

Wife retains dwelling house and plantation, free of rent, until 
dower is assigned; and dwelling house must be given her as 
part of her dower, when equitable. A married woman is not 
entitled to dower, if her separate estate is equal to or greater in 
value than her dower interest, 

THE LAW OF DESCENTS, DISTRIBUTIONS, AND WILLS. 

The descent of the real property, and distribution of t'e per- 
sonal property, of intestates, is equitably regulated by statute.f 
But wills of both are allowed, which must be in writing, signed, 
by the testator or some one in his presence and by his direction, 
and^attested by at least two witnesses, who must subscribe their 
names as such. Nuncupative wills of personalty are allowed in 
certain cases of emergency and under certain restrictions, when 
the value of the property does not < xceed $500. % 

Any person eighteen years old, may make a will of personalty; 
but must be twenty-one to will realty. 

A married woman may will her separate estate — personalty if 
eighteen ; lands, if twenty-one. 

THE LAW OF THE WIFE'S SEPARATE ESTATE. 

All property of the wife, held by her previous to the marriage 

* Proper acknowledgement by the wife, dispenses with the witnesses, 
t See Code of Alabama (1876), Pare 2, Title IV, Estates of Decedents. 
X See Code of Alabama (1876), ss. 2298-2302. 



40 

or coming to her after, is her separate estate, and not liable for 
her husband's debts ; but under certain circumstances, carefully- 
pointed out, it may be subjected for the support of the family, 
and the tuition of her children.* 

The husband is trustee of the wife's separate estate, and may 
take the income to his own use, without accountability to any 
one; but >uch income is not liable for his debts. 

The wife's separate estate may be sold by the jdint conveyance, 
in writing, of herself and husband, attested by two witnesses, or 
properly acknowledged ; and the proceeds continue her separate 
estate. 

The husband is not liable for the debts of his wife con- 
tracted before marriage, and for these, she may be sued alone, 
and her separate estate subjected. 

The husband of a woman having a separate estate and dying 
intestate, is entitled to one-half of 'her personalty, absolutely, and 
to the use of her realty during his life. 

THE LAW OF ALIENAGE, AS AFFECTING PROPERTY RIGHTS. 

An alien, resident or non-resident, may take, hold, inherit, 
convey, and will property in this State, same as a native. 

Alien devisees, or next of kin, take or inherit to the exclusion 
of the State and more remotie na |ve or naturalized heirs. 

REDEMPTION OF LANDS. 

Eeal property sold under execution, decree, mortgage, or deed 
of trust, may be redeemed within two years, under certain re- 
strictions and penalty, t 

PLEADINGS AND CIVIL ACTIONS. 

All pleadings are required to be short and simple, and no ob- 
jection allowed for want of form. 

The Code prescribes simple forms of pleading to be used in 
many cases. 

Civil actions are begun by summons and complaint. 

RULES OF EVIDENCE, COSTS, AND APPEALS. 

Evidence in Chancery cases is taken by written depositions ; 
in nearly all other cases, it is required to be given orally in open 
court. 



* See Code of Alabama, (1876), ss. 2711-2712. 

t See Code of Ala., (1876), Part 2, Title vn, ch. 4:. 



There is no exclusion by reason of interest ; and a party may 
be examined on written interrogatories by his adversary. 

Non-residents, and corporations are required to give security 
for costs. 

Appeals are allowed in nearly every case. 

THE HOMESTEAD, AND OTHER EXEMPTION LAWS OP ALABAMA.* 

The following property is exempt in this State from forced 
sale for rayment of debts : 

During Owner's Lifetime — Personal property to the value 
of 11,000. 

The country homestead not exceeding 160 acres, nor $2,000 
in value ; or, in lieu thereof, the dwelling house and lot in a city, 
town, or village, not exceeding $2,000 in value. If the same can- 
not be allotted, then $2,000 of the value thereof. 

Family burial lots and church pews. 

Necessary wearing appar^^l for himself and family. 

Family portraits, and books used in the family. 

From Garnishment, wages, salaries, etc., to the amount of $25 
a month. 

After Owner's Death, if there be Widow or Minor 
Child -The homestead as above, during the life of widow, or 
minority of child, whichever terminates last. 

The wearing apparel of deceased, and family. 

All yarn and cloth on hand intended for home use. 

Books ia use in the family, and family portraits and min- 
iatures. 

Sufficient grain, stores, and groceries, on hand, to support the 
family for twelve months. 

Such bedding, and household and kitchen furniture as may be 
necessary for the famDy use. 

HOW EXEMPTIONS ARE WAIVED. 

Exemptions of personalty maybe waived by a separate instru- 
ment in writing, or by including the waiver in the bill of ex- 
change, promissory note or contract ; but a waiver relating to 
realty, must be on a separate instrument, signed by both husband 
and wife, if the owner be a married man, and attested by one 
witness. If the waiver be of the hoinestead, it must be on a sep- 
arate instrument and have the voluntary signature and assent of 
the wife, properly acknowledged and certified. 

* See ante. Constitution, Art. X. See, also, on this subject, Code of Ala., (1876) 
Part 2, Title VI, eh. 1— Propektt Exempt. 



42 
LIENS ON THE HOMESTEAD. 

• 1?he liens of laborers, mechanics, and material men, for work 
on the homestead, or materials furnished, are in no way effected by 
the exemption laws. 

CONVEYANCES OF, AND MORTGAaES ON, THE HOMESTEAD. " 

Provision is made by the laws of this State for conveyances of 
and mortgages on the homestead, and such are valid, if properly 
obtained. 

immigrant's CONTRACTS. 

Contracts, for service, made out of this State or in a foreign 
country, for a period not exceeding two years, are as valid in this 
State as if made here ; and are good although made by minors 
and married women ; but the minor must be 16 years of age, and 
have the assent of his father, or other guardian, certified thereon, 
and a married woman must have a certificate of the assent of her 
husband. Such contracts must be in duplicate, the original in the 
immigrant's language, and the duplicate in English ; and the latter 
must be recorded in the office of the Probate Judge of the em- 
ployer's county, within forty days after the arrival of the immi- 
grant, to have the benefit of the provisions mentioned under this 
head. 

An immigrant, under such contract, has a preferred lien on 
the product of his labor to secure his wages ', and if the labor 
yields no tangible product, may, on application to the Probate 
Judge, require personal security. 

If he be discharged without good cause, he may recover his 
wages for the full term ; but if he leaves without good cause, or 
fails to enter the service as he contracted to do, he is liable for 
double the amount of his wages for the unexpired term, and this 
liability is a lien on all his future wages, whenever and from 
whomsoever earned. These provisions apply as well to contracts 
made with immigrants, after their arrival in the United States, 
for a period of two years. 

LIEN LAWS. 

By the laws of Alabama, liens are declared in favor of me- 
chanics, builders and employes, on the product of their labor ; 
and material men have a lien for supplies furnished. Landlords 
have, also, a lien for rent of land and supplies ; and so have farm 
and railroad employes for their labor. 

BUSINESS CORPORATIONS, AND LIMITED PARTNERSHIPS. 

There is a general law in this State, under which corporations, 



43 

for catrying on any manufacturing, mining, or industrial business, 
may be formed by simply filing with the proper Probate Judge, a 
written declaration, setting forth the necessary facts. If this 
general law is not sufficient, a special act of the General Assem- 
bly may be obtained. Mining and manufacturing corporations 
have power to build tramways, canals, and turnpikes, necessary 
to connect their works with railroads and other public highways, 
and to condemn the right of way on paying just compensation. 

Every facility is likewise afforded to those who wish to form 
corporations for constructing macadamized, turnpike, plank and 
railroads ; or who wi^ to establish telegraph, or steamship com- 
panies, or companies for carrying on a banking, fire or life in- 
surance, or any other lawful business. Eeligious, educational, 
benevolent, social and literary, and burial societies may, also, be 
formed under this general law. 

Stockholders are individually liable to the extent of their un- 
paid stock, only. 

There is, also, a general law in this State, under which limited 
partnerships are readily formed. 



Part Fourth. 



The Free Public School Systejn of Alabama; Its Normal Schools; 
Universities and Colleges. 



THE FEEB PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ALABAMA.* 

THE FEDERAL LEGISLATION ON THE SUBJECT. 

March. 2, 1819, Congress passed an act for the admission of 
Alabama into the Federal Union. What is, now, the State of Ala- 
bama, was then the Territory of Alabama. By the first sub-di- 
vision of the sixth section of this act. Congress granted the sec- 
tion numbered sixteen in every township,t and when thut section 
had been granted, sold, or disposed of, other lands equivalent 
thereto, and most contiguous, to the inhabitants of such township 
for the use of schools therein. In return for this grant, the 
State disclaimed all right and title to the waste or unappropriated 
lands within its borders, and declared that the same should re- 
main at the sole ad entire disposition of the United States. 
This was the germ of the Free Public School System afterwards 
inaugurated in Alabama. 

March 2, 1827, Congress authorized the State to sell these 
lands, and invest the proceeds in some productive fund, the rev- 
enue from which was to be forever applied to the use of schools; 
but providing that each township should have the full benefit of 
its particular section, and that the proceeds of any given six- 
teenth section should be credited to the township embracing 
such section, and the revenue arising therefrom applied to the 
support of the schools in that township, exclusively. Under this 

* Before being put in the hands of the printer, this article was suDmitted to Hon. 
L. F. Box, Superintendent of Education, for examination and revision. In a letter to 
the writer, returning the manuscript, Mr. Box says: 

"The article is well written, and for accuracy and comprehensiveness as a sum- 
mary of our Public School System, could hardly be imiDroved." 

t By an act of Congress, passed May 18, 1796, all the public lands of the United 
States are required to be surveyed first into tracts called townships, in extent six miles 
square. The sub-divisions of a township are called sections, each a mile square and 
containing 640 acres; these are sub-divided into quarter sections, and from that into 
lots of 40 acres each, a township, therefore, comprises 36 sections, or 23,040 acres. 



45 ^ 

authority, the lands or the larger portion of them, were sold and 
the proceeds became, in the hands of the State, the nucleus of its 
present School Fund. 

July 4, 1836, Congress made another grant of lands to Ala- 
bama for the use of schools, equal to the thirty-sixth part of the 
lands within the State, ceded to the United States by the Chick- 
asaw Indians. By the eighth section of an act passed September 
4, 1841, Congress donated to the State 500,000 acres of land for 
internal improvements. Subsequently, by act of August 11, 
1848, the State was authorized to apply these lands to the use of 
schools in those townships, in which the sixteenth sections, 
granted by the act of March 2, 1819, were comparatively valueless. 

In 1836, there was a surplus of revenue in the United States 
Treasury, over and above what was necessary to meet the wants 
of the Federal Government; and Congress, by an act passed 
June 23d, 1836, declared that such surplus, in excess of |5,000,- 
000, should be apportioned among the different States, according 
to their representation in Congress, to be held until called for 
by the United States. The amount received by Alabama under 
this act, and which was by the Legislature appropiiated as a part 
of the school fund, was $669,086.80. 

STATE CONSTITUTIONAL, AND LEGI^LATIVE, SCHOOL PROVISIONS, 

It has always been the policy of Alabama to foster education 
and promote learning among the masses, and the earliest Consti- 
tution of the State — that adopted in 1819, declared that schools 
and the means of education should forever be encouraged in this 
State. The first legislative enactment establishing a system of 
free public schools in Alabama, was passed February 17th, 1854. 
This act was supplemented by a very important act, passed Feb- 
ruary 14th, 1856. Prior to 1854, there was no such system, and 
the revenue accruing from the school fund was used to pay 
teachers of private schools, for the education of those entitled 
to the benefit of such revenue. 

The present Constitution of the State requires the General 
Assembly to establish and maintain a system of public schools 
for all the children of the State, between the ages of seven and 
twenty-one years ; but there must be separate schools for white 
and colored children. It prescribes, also, in general terms, from 
what, and i'ow these ^ohools are to be supported ; and prohibits 
the teaching, in them, of sectarian religious views. * 
The public schools provided in accordance with these consti- 

* See Constitution, Art. XIII, ante. 



#46 

tutional requirements, are divided into four grades — Primary, 
Intermediate, Grammar, and High schools. The school year 
begins October 1st, and ends September 13th.* The school month 
is 20 days and the school day not less than 6 hours. There is no 
uniformity in text books used. 

For the efficient administration of these schools, there are the 
following officers : 

A Superintendent of Education for the State. 

A County Superintendent of Education in each county. 

Three Trustees of Public Schools in each township or other 
school district. 

The Superintendent of Education is elected' by the qual- 
ified voters of the State, every two years, on the first Monday in 
August; holds office for two years; gives bond in the sum of 
$15,000 ; and is paid $2,250 a year.. He is required to keep his 
office in the Capitol building of the State ; and is allowed a clerk 
at an annual salary of $1,500. A vacancy in his office is filled by 
the Governor. 

He is the chief school officer of the State, and has general 
supervisio'i of its educational interests, and is required to devote 
his time to the care and improvement of the public schools, and 
the promotion of public education in the State. All the other 
school officials are, directly or indirectly, subject to his control; 
and he may remove any of them ifor delinquency in office. He 
appoints the County Superintendents of Education, and super- 
vises their official acts. He is charged with the legal apoortion- 
ment of the educational revenue, and required to see to its 
proper disbursement. 

The County Superintendents of Education are the next 
in the scale of educational officers in the State. They are ap- 
pointed and may be removed for delinquency by the Superin- 
tendent of Education ; hold thei* office for two years ; give bond 
in a sum to be fixed by the Superintendent of Education, not less 
than double the amount of school money that may come to their 
Jiands at any time ; and are paid each seventy-five dollars! and one 
per cent, upon the amount of educational revenue legally dis- 
bursed by them; pay teachers annually between the 1st and 15th 
of October, upon certificates of the Board of Trustees, signed 
by the Clerk of the Board, taking their receipts in duplicate for 
amounts so paid ; they are charged with the receipt, apportion- 

* Thirteenth probably an error, and intended for thirtieth, but so -written in the 
original. ^ 

t Evidently per annum, but not so expressed in the Code. 



47 

ment, and distribution of all the local school money accruing in 
their respective counties from whatsoever source, to be used in 
connection with that part of the general educational revenue ap- 
portioned by the Superintendent of Education to their counties. 
They may, for delinquency, remove district trustees, and fill their 
places. They examine into the condition of all school funds of 
their counties, including sixteenth section lands unsold ; may 
bring suits for trespasses on school lands, and to recover 
such lands when in possession of other claimants. They must 
have offices at the county seats, where they must be present on 
the first Saturday of each month during the session of the public 
schools, to transact business. As soon as they receive the annual 
apportionment of the general educational revenue to their counties, 
they must notify the District Trustees of the amount which is 
coming to each race in their townships. 

District Trustees. Every township in the State, and every 
fraction of a township which is divided by a State or county line 
or any other insuperable barrier, such as a river, creek, or moun- 
tain, is made a separate school district, under a board of three 
Trustees, called The Board of Township Trustees. Every 
incorporated city or town of three or more thousand inhabitants, 
is, also, made a school district, under the su{)ervision of a Board 
of Trustees. These Trustees are elected by the people of their 
respective districts; the times, places, and mode of holding elec- 
tions for whom being fully pointed out in the Code of Alabama, 
(1876) page 375. They are required to take an oath faithfully to 
discharge their duties, and may be removed by the County Super- 
intendent of Education for delinquency in office, and by the Su- 
perintendent of Education for failure to furnish reports, or such 
other information as he may require. They give no bond, except 
when they are about to sell or lease school lands, and then the 
amount is fixed by the County Superintendent. 

They have immediate supervision of the public schools in their 
respective districts, and have power to establish therein as many 
schools for either race as the public necessity requires. ]Sro one 
but a freeholder or householder, resident in the county, is eligible 
as District Trustee. The Board of each District meets annually, 
on the second Monday in January, for the transaction of business. 
One of its members acts as Clerk to the Board, and presides over 
its meetings and records its proceedings. Two members consti- 
tute a quorum for the transaction of business, but one may ad- 
journ from day to day; and when there is only one Trustee in 
office he has full power to act. The Board employs teachers in 



48 

the township ; draws warrants for their payment on the County 
Superintendent ; and may remove them. It makes rules for the 
government of the schools of its Districts; and must visit, by one 
or more of its members, every school in the same at least once a 
year. Every second year, the Board is required to make an enu- 
meration of the schoo' children in its District and report number 
to the County Superintendent. These District Trustees receive 
no remuneration, but are exempt from road and jury duty. 

The School Fund,* from the annual revenue of which, the 
public schools of the State are supported, consists of : 

The principal of all funds arising from lands granted to Ala- 
bama, by Congress, for educational purposes, and which have 
been disposed of by the State, amounting to $1,747,165.50. f 

All lands or other property given by individuals or appropri- 
ated by the State for educational purposes. 

The proceeds of all escheated estates. 

The annual poll tax of one dollar and fifty cents. | 

The sixteenth section trust fund, amounting to $97,091.33. § 

The surplus revenue fund, amounting to $669,086.80, || 

The Public School Eevenue. The following sums are re- 
quired to be annually appropriated for the maintenance of the 
public schools in Alabama : 

Six per cent, interest on the principal mentioned in first sub- 
division of School Fund, above ; amounting to the yearly sum 
of 1104,829,93. 

Six per cent, interest on the trust fund mentioned in fifth sub- 
division, same title ; amounting to the yearly sum of $5,825.47. 

Four per cent, interest on the surplus revenue fund, men- 
tioned in sixth sub-division, same title ; amounting to the yearly 
sum of $26,763.47. 

The annual rents, incomes, profits, or proceeds of sales of all 
lands hereafter granted for the support of schools in this State. 

The proceeds of all escheated estates. 

■ ' ■ T 

* IhrndiBuaedto designate tla at which is permanent; Bevemie, that which accraes 
annually from the fund. 

t This embraces the sixteenth sections granted by act of March 2, 1819 ; and the 
grant of July 4, 1836. 

X Poll tax is a school fund ; but the amount annually arising from that source is 
school revenue. 

§ For the nature of this grant, aeeoMte. p. 45; and acts of Congress of September 
4, 1841, and August 11, 1848. 

II See anie. p. 45; and act of Compress of June 23, 1836, for the nature of this 
tund. 



49 

The entire poll tax * of the State, amounting, in 1877, to the 
sum of $116,000. 

An annual appropriation of $130,000, from the State Treasury, 
in addition to the foregoing, f 

Method of Apportioning the Educational Eevenue.f 
The apportionment of the general educational revenue is accord- 
ing toan enumeration of the school population in the State made 
every two years ; allowing so much to each child. 

At the beginning of each school year, the State Auditor cer- 
tifies to the Superintendent of Education what will be to the 
credit of the general educational fand for that year. The Super- 
intendent then sets apart from such revenue what will be neces- 
sary to pay the expenses of his office and the iN'ormal schools 
during the year ; and apportions the balance among the different 
School Districts. He first gives to each District so much of the 
revenue as has been produced by the sale or other disposition of 
its sixteenth section or other land grant. After doing this, from 
what is left, he first makes those Districts which have little or no 
revenue from the foregoing source, equal to those which have 
more ; and then equally apportions the remainder of the revenue 
among all the Districts according to their respective school pop- 
ulation ; and certifies to the State Auditor what he has done, who 
draws his warrants in favor of the proper parties, on the differ- 
ent Tax Collectors of the State, which are paid as the taxes are 
collected.§ 

Local Systems of Public Schools. In addition to the gen- 
eral system throughout the State, local systems of public schools 
have, by special acts of the General Assembly, been established 
in Dadeville, Huntsville, Birmingham, Eufaula, Marion, Opelika, 
Selma, Montgomery, Oxmoor, and the County of Mobile. These 

* The poll tax is an annual tax of one dollax- and fifty cents on nearly every male 
inhabitant of the State, between the ages of 21 and 45 years. Whatever accrues from 
this source in any given district constitutes a local school fund, and must be retained 
and applied, exclusively, to the support of schools in that district. What is col- 
lected from the whites to the use of white schools, and what is collected from the col- 
ored population to the use of colored schools. 

t Each county in the State, except Mobile county, may, in addition to these appro- 
priations, levy and collect,. for the exclusive use of schools in that county, a special 
tax of not more than one-tenth of one per cent, in any one year, on the taxable pro- 
perty of the county. 

I The poU tax, and the special tax (when imposed) of one-tenth of one per cent. , 
constitute a local fund in each county where collected, and the amount accruing from 
these sources is paid over to the County Superintendent, without the intervention of 
eitheo: the State Auditor or Superintendent of Education, Imt mng* be reported to tbe 
latter. 

§ WTaen the amount of taxes collected in any one county is not sufficient to pay the 
Auditor's warrants on the Tax Collector, the Auditor draws his wanant on the State 
Treasurer for the deficiency. 



50 

local systems have been instituted for the convenience of the 
particular localities where they are in active operation, most of 
which embrace important cities ; and constituting, each, a sep- 
arate and distinct school district, are regulated by laws peculiar 
to themselves, which are explicitly set forth in the Code of Ala- 
bama; but they are sup orted, as the other public schools, out of 
the educational revenue of the State. 

Miscellaneous School Information. Teachers of public 
schools, when required by the District Trustees must obtain a 
certificate of qualification from such authority as may be desig- 
nated by such Trustees ; must keep a register of actual daily at- 
tendance of pupils in their schools ; and must make certified re- 
ports on or before the expiration of the scholastic year, of the 
number of pupils, designating them by name, in attendance dur- 
ing their schools. 

Public examinations must be held in every school at least once 
a year. Honorable certificates are given to graduates. 

According to the report of Hon. Leroy F. Box, Superintendent 
of Educati n, the number of School Districts in the State the 
present year (1877-78), is 1,700; number of schools taught, white 
2,696, colored 1,404 ; number of teachers employed, white 2,722, 
colored 1,423 ; grades of schools taught, ]trimary 1,590, interme- 
diate, 1,370, grammar, 973, high, 167; school population, white, 
214,279 , colored, 155,168 ; number enrolled in schools, white, 
86,485, colored, 54,745 ; average attendance in schools, white, 
61,584, colored, 40,092. 

It will thus be seen, that the Public School System of Alabama 
is as extensive and well supported as that of any State in the 
South; and amply sufficient for the proper education of the peo- 
ple. These schools are comparatively well attended; ably and 
conscientiously administered ; and a source of pride and gratifi- 
cation to every true Alabamian. 

NORMAL SCHOOLS. 

At Florence, in Lauderdale county, there is a Normal School 
upon the most approved plan, for the education of white teachers, 
male and female, in the theo'y and practice of teaching ; con- 
trolled by a board of directors, called "The Board of Directors 
of. the State Normal School," with a. President, Secretary, and 
Treastirer. Tim directors receive no compensation, and a va^ 
oancy in the board is filled by the remaining members. The act 



5V 

of the Board of Education, * creating this institution, approved 
December 14, 1874, requires that not les^ than |5,000 shall be an- 
nually appropriated, out of the general educational revenue, for 
its support. The board of directors elects the faculty, consisting 
of a President and complete corps of instructors ; and also, pre- 
scribes the rules and regulations of the school. Applicants for 
admission must be not less than fifteen years, of age, and pass a 
satisfactory examination. The tuition is free, but the student 
must bind himself to teach at least two years in the public schools 
of the State; he may, however, release himself from this obliga- 
tion, by paying tuition. A graduate from this institution can 
teach in any public school in the State, without further examina- 
tion. During the year 1876-77, there were in its normal depart- 
ment, 48 students. The faculty is an efficient and laborious one, 
and composed of instructors who have devoted the greater por 
tion of their manhood to the profession of teaching; and, al- 
though the school is of so recent origin, its good effects have al- 
ready been felt on the educational interests of the State. 

At Marion, in Perry county, there is a State Normal School 
for the education of colored teachers, in the theory and practice 
of teaching ; and an University, connected therewith, for the ed- 
ucation of colored students in the higher departments of learn- 
ing. This institution was established by an act of the Board of 
Education, approved December 20, 1871, and is under the control 
of a board of directors, called, " The Board of Directors of the 
State Normal School and University for the Education of the 
Colored Eace," with a President, Secretary, and Treasurer. A 
vacancy in the board is filled by the remaining members. The 
directors receive no compensation. The act, establishing the in- 
stitution, requires that $4,000 shall be annually appropriated out 
of the State educational revenue for its support. It has, also, 
private endowments to a considerable amount, which, in connec- 
tion with the aid received from the State school revenue, is suf- 
ficient to support it upon the most approved plan. The board of 
directors elects the faculty, consisting of a President, and compe- 
tent corps of instructors ; and, also, prescribes the rules of the 
school. Applicants for admission must be at least 14 years of 
age, and pass a satisfactory examination. The tuition is free, but 
beneficiary must bind himself to teach at least two years in the 

*Un<ifir the C<matii>a«ion at 1866, a Soard of Sducafcion, oomposed of trwo -mem- 
tfere fgora eacla Oongressicmal rHetrlct, eseroised esolusiVe l«gr*slativiB antboiiby ovfer 
the Public Schosl System of Alabama, and the State educatlorial institutions. This 
Board was abolished by the Constitution of 1875, and its po-wers remitted to the Gen- 
eral Assembly. 



5^ 

public schools of the State; he may, however, release himself 
froiji the obligation by paying tuition. The institution is in suc- 
cessful operation. 

At Huntsville, in the northern portion of the Sta^e, there is, 
also, a Norraal School for the professional education of colored 
teachers ; controlled by a board of three commissioners, one of 
whom is chairman. This school was established December 20, 
1871, and an annual appropriation of $1,000, out of the State edu- 
cational revenue, is required to be made, for its support. Pupils 
are admitted free of charge, but must bind themselves to teach 
two years in the public schools of the State. This institution is, 
also, in successful operation. 





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Part Fifth. 



State Institutions of Alabama.* 



THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA. 

By the act of Congress admitting the State of Alabama to the 
Union, passed March 2, 1819, seventy-two sections of the public 
land, within the State, were set apart "for the use of a seminary 
of learning." The proceeds arising from the sale of the land 
were to be vested in the Legislature of the State, and "appro- 
priated solely to the use of such Seminary by the said Legisla- 
ture." 

In accordance with the provisions of this grant, an institution, 
styled the University of Alabama, was established by act of the 
General Assembly of Alabama, approved December 18, 1819, and 
incorporated by a supplementary act, approved December 18, 
1820. 

In 1828, a site for the location of the University was se- 
lected at Marr's Spring, one mile and a quarter east of the court- 
house in Tuscaloosa. The erection of the buildings was forth- 
with begun, and the University was opened for the reception of 
students April 17, 1831. Rev. Alva Woods, D. D., was the first 
President. He was aided by a Professor of Mathematics and Nat- 
ural Philosophy, a Professor of Ancient Languages, and a Pro- 
fessor of Chemistry and Natural Sciences. In 1834, the Uni- 
versity buildings were completed, at a cost of more than $100,000. 
These consisted of a spacious and beautiful Eotunda, formed, 
mainly, in model of that of the University of Virginia; of an edi- 
fice of two stories, called the Lyceum ; of three large college 
halls for the use of students ; and five residences for Professors. 

The Rotunda was a circular edifice of three stories, seventy 
feet in diameter and seventy f et in height; surmounted with a 
dome, and surrounded by a lofty peristyle of the Ionic order. 
The principal story, or ground floor, was used for chapel service 

* It was originally intended to accompany these sketclies with appi-epi'iate engrav- 
ings of the Institutions; but it was found that the expense of so doing Would greatly 
increase the cost of this hook, and tend to defeat its object, which is, to furnish a 
work tor general dissemina<:ion, and within the means of all. 



55 

and academic celebrations. This apartment was probably the 
finest auditorium in the State. In the second story was the cir- 
cular gallery of the auditory, supported by carved columns of 
the Corinthian order. The third story contained the Library of 
the University, consisting, at the time of its destruction, in 1865, of 
about 25,000 volumes. Of the three college halls, all of three 
stories, two, the Washington College and the Jefferson, were 
sixty feet long and thirty feet wide, each divided into two halls 
with twelve commodious apartments for study, each study having 
two sleeping chambers attached ; the Franklin College, ninety 
feet long and thirty wide, was divided into three halls with 
eighteen rooms for study, to each of which were attached two 
sleeping rooms. 

The Lyceum was an edifice of two stories, sixty feet in length 
and forty feet in width, having a porch of the Ionic order on the 
whole front, surmounted with the belfry of the University. This 
building contained the Chemical and Physical Laboratories, the 
Cabinets of Mineralogy, Geology, and Natural History, and the 
lecture rooms of the Professors. In 1842, an Astronomical Observ- 
atory was built, and equipped during the next ten years with in- 
struments of observation of the highest order. In 1845, a resi- 
dence for the President was built, at a cost of $30,000, and in 
1859, a fourth college hall, of the same dimensions as the Frank- 
lin College, was built, at a cost of $12,000, and three additional 
Professors' residences were constructed on the college grounds. 

On the 4th day of April, 1865, all the public buildings, except 
the Astronomical Observatory, with their valuable contents, were 
burned by a brigade of United States cavalry under the com- 
mand of Brigadier-General Croxton, of Kentucky. Two of the 
Professors' residences were burned at the same time. 

In 1868, the Board of Trustees built, at a cost of $100,000, the 
present University Hall. This structure is four stories high in 
the centre, with wings three stories high, and broad verandas ex- 
tending along the whole front of every story. It embraces sleep- 
ing and study rooms for one hundred and fifty students, two halls 
for the literary societies, lecture rooms, chemical laboratories, 
library room, cabinets of mineralogy, geology, and natural his- 
tory, and a large dining hall with kitchens and store-rooms at- 
tached. There are on the grounds a President's mansion and five 
residences for Professors. The University is sorely in need, just 
now, of ampler accommodations for its rapidly growing libraries 
and cabinets, and for the yearly increasing number of students. 



S6 

in 1860, the military system was adopted for the government of 
the university, and has been maintained to the present time. 

As now constituted, the University has two general depart- 
ments of instruction : An Academic department, and a depart- 
ment of Professional instruction. 

The mode of instruction in both departments is by lectures, 
and recitations from approved text books, accompanied by daily 
examinations, oral and written. 

In the Academic department there are now nine schools . The 
School of the Latin Language and Literature ; the School of the 
Greek Language and Literature; the School of the English Lan- 
guage and Literature ; the School of Modern Languages ; the 
School of Chemistry; the School of Geology and I^atural His- 
tory ; the School of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy ; the 
School of Mathematics ; the School of Mental and Moral Phi- 
losophy. 

In the department of Professional Education there are three 
Schools : The School of Law ; the School of Civil Engineering • 
the Medical School. * 

The Degree of Graduate in a School^ is conferred on all students 
who pass, without regard to time of residence in the University, 
the final examination for graduation in all the subjects taught in 
that school, with a grade of 80 percent., or more, of all the merit 
marks attainable. 

The Degree of Bachelor of Arts, is conferred on all students who 

pass, without regard to time of residence, the final examinations 

in seven of the nine schools of the academic department, viz : the 

general examinations in four and the special examinations in three 

of these schools. 

The Degree of Master of Arts, is conferred on all students who 
pass the final examinations in seven schools, viz : The general 
examinations in three, and the special examinations in four of 
these schools with a grade of 90 per cent., or more, in all. 

The Degree of Bachelor of Laws, is conferred on graduates in 
the School of Law; and the Degree of Civil Engineer is conferred 
on graduates in the School of Civil Engineering. 

The Academic year begins on the first Monday of October, and 
ends on the first Thursday of July, which is Commencement Day. 

The yearly expenses of a student in the Academic depart- 
ment, exclusive of clothing and traveling expenses, are $190. 
This amount covers all charges for tuition, board, lodging, wash- 

* The Medical School is established in the city of Mobile, and has 'only a nominal 
connectlonwitlithe University . 



S7 

ing, fuel, lights, servant hire, medical attendance, and use of 
library. These charges are probably lower than those of any 
other institution of equal grade in the Union. 

Three students from each county of the State are admitted to 
the Academic Schools without payment of tuition fees, on the 
recommendation of the Trustee of the District in which the ap- 
plicants reside. 

The collections of the University, in Mineralogy, Geology, 
and Natural history, are extensive and valuable. The Geological 
and Mineralogical cabinets comprise many thousand specimens, 
consisting in part, of the private collections of the late Professor 
Michael Tuom»y, purchased by the University before the late 
war ; partly of the minerals, rocks, and fossils, collected by Pro- 
fessor Tuomey while he was Geologist of the State ; of the col- 
lections made by the present State Geologist; and of many inter- 
esting specimens obtained by exchange from all parts of the 
world. 

The Chemical and Physical Laboratories are furnished with 
the newest and most approved apparatus for the purposes both 
of instruction and research. 

Besides numerous instruments of smaller size, the Astro- 
nomical department is provided with an Equatorial Telescope, 
having a focal length of twelve feet, and an object glass of 
eight inches, clear aperture. 

The Library, formed mainly by the gifts of enlightened 
friends of the University, both in and out of this State, now con- 
tains about 6000 volumes, exclusive of pamphlets and unbound 
works. 

The University, now in the forty-sixth year since its halls 
were opened, counts on its rolls about 700 graduates, of whom 
201 are known to be deceased. A valuable Eegister of all the of- 
ficers and graduates of the institution, since its foundation, has 
just now been printed, which gives, besides the names of the 
graduates, their vocations, a record of public and official stations, 
filled by each, the original and present residences of those yet 
living, and the last place of .residence, and the year of death 
of those who are dead. Many of the graduates fill the highest 
stations in Church and State and society, throughout the South. 

The number of students in the University during the past 
year* was one hundred and seventy-seven. The University is 
under the management and control of a Board of Trustees, con- 
sisting of the Governor, and Superintendent of Education, ex- 

* Session of 1877-78. 



officio; two members from the Congressional District in whicli 
the University is located, and one from each of the other Con- 
gressional Districts in the State, appointed by the Governor, 
confirmed by the Senate, and who hold office for the term of six 
years. The Grovernor is President of the Board. The Trustees 
receive no compensation, other than actual expenses. This 
Board has enlarged powers in the administration of the University, 
appoints its faculty and officers, fixes their salaries, and may re- 
move them at discretion ; regulates the government of the insti- 
tution, and prescribes courses of instruction, rates of tuition, 
price of board, etc. The University Fund, from the annual 
revenue of which the University is, in a measure, supported, con- 
sists of $300,000, proceeds of the original land grant of Congress, 
deposited with the State, and for the payment of the interest on 
which, at 8 per cent, per annum, the faith and credit of the State 
are forever pledged. 

The General Assembly has power to change the location of 
the University, but only upon a vote of two-thirds of its mem- 
bers, taken by ayes and nays and entered upon the journals.* 

THE AamCULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE. 

This institution is located at Auburn, in Lee County, sixty 
miles, by rail, northwest from the city of Montgomery, and di- 
rectly on the line of the Western Eailroad of Alabama. The re- 
gion is high and healthful — being 850 feet above tide water. 

By an act, passed July 2, 1862, Congress donated to each 
State, 30,000 acres of public land, or land scrip to that amount, 
for each Senator and Eepresentative in Congress, to which the 
State was entitled by the census of 1860, to enable it to endow 
and maintain at least one College, "Where the leading object 
should be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, 
and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning 
as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such man- 
ner as the Legislature of the State might prescribe, in order to 
promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial 
classes in the several pursuits and professions in life." The cap- 
ital accruing to any State from the sale of this laud, or scrip, was 
directed to be invested in some safe fund, producing not less 
than 5 per <*ent. per annum —the capital to remain forever undi- 
minished, and the annual interest to be inviolably approprial^ed to 
the support of the College, or Colleges, established ; but 10 per 
cent, of the amount received by any State from such sale might 

* For roll of the Presidents of the Uaiversity, since its opening, see Appendix. 



59 

be used for the purchase of sites and experimental farms. No 
part, however, of either capital or interest, is allowed to be 
used in the purchase, erection, preservation, or repair of any 
building or buildings. A State taking advantage of the act, was 
required to provide, within five years from its passage, at least one 
College, or the grant failed and the State was required to refund. 
The act, also, excluded from its benefits, every State engaged in 
" rebellion or insurrection, while so engaged." 

Under this act, Alabama became entitled to 240,000 acres, but 
being, at that time, engaged in war with the United States, was, 
for tbe while, excluded from its benefits ; and nearly three years 
of the five allowed, expired before peace was restored. 

By an act passed July 23, 1866, Congress extended the time 
within which the States might comply with the provisions of the 
original act, giving the States three years from the passage of the 
later act within which to file an acceptance of the benefits of the 
act of 1862, and five years from the filing of such acceptance 
within which to establish the necessary College or Colleges. 

The General Assembly of Alabama, by an act, approved De- 
cember 31st, 1868, accepted the grant, and appropriated $1,000 to 
carry such acceptance into effect, and to pay agents for selecting 
and locating the lands or selling the scrip. This state received 
only scrip, which was sold, and the proceeds invested in the 
bonds of the State. The amount realized, and which constitutes 
a permanent endowment fund of the College, never to be di- 
minished, was $253,500. The rate of interest paid on these bonds 
is 8 per cent., making the sum of $20,280 a year, which is appro- 
priated exclusively to the support of the College. 

The act of the General Assembly, establishing the College, 
was approved February 26, 1872 When the question of the lo- 
cation of the College came before the General Assembly, three 
places made offers for it — Florence, Birmingham and Auburn. 
The Trustees of the " East Alabama College," located at Auburn, 
offered their l)uilding with its grounds, and the citizens of Au- 
burn offered, in addition, 200 acres of land. After a warm con- 
test, the College was given to Auburn. On the 20th of March, 
1872, the Board of Trustees of the new College, appointed un- 
der the act of February 26, 1872, met, organized the institution, 
and elected a faculty, and the College was opened immediately. 
Since that time extensive repairs and improvements have been 
made on the original building, and it is, now, large and commo- 
dious, well furnished with rooms for College purposes, and capa- 
ble of accommodating 300 students. 



6o 

The State Constitution prohibits any removal of the institu- 
tion, except by a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly, taken 
by ayes and nays, arid entered on the journals. The College is 
under the manag ment and control of a Board of Trustees, com- 
posed of two members from the Congressional District in which 
it is located, and one from each of the other Congressional Dis- 
tricts in the State, appointed by the Governor, and confirmed by 
the Senate, and who hold office for six years. The Governpr and 
Superintendent of Education, are, ex-officio, members of the Board 
and the Governor is its President. Trustees receive no pay, 
other than their actual expenses. The faculty of the College, 
comprising a President, and complete corps of instructors, is 
elected by the Board of Trustees. The Board also, fixes the sal-" 
aries of these ofiicials, and makes rules and regulations for the gov- 
ernment of the College. To carry out, in full, the objects of the 
act of Congress, there is a Military department connected with the 
College, under a Commandant and other officers, elected by the 
Board, and all students are members of and cadets in this de- 
partment ; but military science is a secondary aim of the College, 
and is taught principally as a means of discipline and gymnastic 
exercise. 

The rates of tuition arje fixed by the Board of Trustees ; but 
at least two students from each county, to be nominated by the 
County Superintendents of Education, must» be admitted free of 
tuition ; and ministers' sons, and young men preparing for the 
ministry, are, also, admitted free of tuition. Five independent 
courses are taught — Agriculture, Literature, Science, Engineer- 
ing, and Surveying; and academic and honorary degrees conferred. 
In connection with the College, there is an excellent Preparatory 
School, with graded classes, and free of tuition. There is, also, 
connected with it, a Kormal Department, for the training of 
teachers. The institution has two Experimental Farms — one at 
Auburn, the other near Courtland, in the Yalley of the Tennessee. 
On these farms, experiments in grasses, grains, textile and forage 
plants, vegetables, modes of culture, fertilizers, etc., are in pro- 
gress. The classes make frequent excursions for the inspection 
of machine shops, mills, furnaces, and engineering works ; and, 
in vacation, the geological students accompany the State Geolo- 
gist on his tours throughout the State. The Chemical and Phil- 
osophical apparatus of the College is extensive; and its Cabinet 
of Minerals comprehensive. It has, also, a good Museum, con- 
taining many rare and wonderful specimens. At this College, as 
well as at the University of Alabama, the Geology of the State is 



' 6i 

fully illustrated, it being the duty of the State Geologist to 
furnish the institution with a full suit of all the minerals of the 
State. The College has, also, an Industrial Museum, containing 
machines, implements, and models or plans of such, and of 
bridges, etc.; a full set of models for drawing ; and a large collec- 
tion of English, German, and French, architectural and mechan- 
ical Photographs and Drawings. Attached to the institution, and 
designed for instruction, is a complete set of Telegraph Appara- 
tus. The Military Department has been supplied, by the State, 
with a full set of breach-loading cadet rifles, swords, and accoutre- 
ments. The location is one of the most elevated and salubrious 
in the State, and entirely free from epidemic disease of any char- 
acter. The health statistics of the College compare most favor- 
ably with those of any college in tne United States ; and every 
att^-ntion is devoted to hygiene, and sanitary regulations. The in- 
stitution is in a very prosperous condition ; the number of 
students in attendance the past session * being 238, with a pros- 
pect for a large increase next year. Catalogues and full informa- 
tion can be had on application to any of the faculty. 

THE ALABAMA INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB, AND 

THE BLIND. 

This Institution is located at Talladega, on the Selma, Eome, 
and Dalton Eailroad. 

The first act of the State Legislature for its establishment was 
that of January 27th, 1860. This act contemplated the education 
of the deaf and dumb, only, and made no provision for the blind. 
It incorporated Gabriel B. DuYal, the then State Superintendent 
^of Education, and his successors in office, and four other Com- 
missioners to be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by 
the Senate, under the name of "The Alabama Institution for the 
Deaf and Dumb," and gave them all the powers necessary to 
carry into effect the object of the act, which was, primarily, to af- 
ford the means of education to the indigent deaf and dumb of the 
State. The incorporators were, also, empowered to locate the 
institution, and purchase or erect suitable buildings, and the sum 
of 120,000 was appropriated for that purpose, and the further 
annual sum of |5,000 for its support. 

December 8, 1863, an act was approved, increasing the annual 
appropriation to $8,000. By an act, approved February 8, 1867, a 
school for the education of the indigent blind of the State was 
established, to be conducted within the halls of the Institution 

* Session of 1877-1878. 



Si 

for the Deaf and Dumb, and to be under the control of the Board 
of Commissioners of that Institution, and an annual sum of $2,- 
500 appropriated for its support. February 11, 1870, an act was 
approved consolidating these two schools under the name of the 
Alabama Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and the Blind; 
and the Governor, ex-officio, and three other persons to be by 
him appointed, were added to the number of incorporators, and 
the annual appropriations for its support increased to $13,000, 
and an additional sum of $3,000 appropriated to buy books, ap- 
paratus, and musical instruments, and to make repairs. An act 
approved December 18, 1871, further increased the annual appro- 
priation to what it now is, $18,090. 

Under the authority conferred by the act of January 27, 1860, 
the main building of the Institution, with its landed property, 
was purchased This building, which is an imposing and ca- 
pacious structure, three and a half or four stories high, was 
erected by Clinton Lodge, No. 28, of Free Masons, and was in 
use by that order as, "The East Alabama Masonic Female Col- 
lege." The corner stone was laid April 12, 1860, and the original 
cost $27,000. Since then, there have been erected two other 
brick buildings, four stories high, at a cost of $9,000. The landed 
property of the Institution consists of the lot on which the build- 
ings stand, containing 17 acres ; and 80 acres lying three miles 
off. The location is a pretty and most healthful one — only one 
death occurring in the school since 1867 ; and the buildings and 
grounds, tastefully arranged and handsomely kept, present a very 
attractive appearance. 

The Institution is under the control of a Board of Commis- 
sioners, composed of the Governor, and the Superintendent of 
Education of the State, and their successors in office, and seven 
others appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. 
This Board elects one of its members President of the Board, 
and name* a Secretary and Treasurer. The chief executive 
officer of the Institution is called the " Principal," and is ap- 
pointed by the Board. This officer nominates to the Board such 
assistants as he deems necessary, and the Board appoints them. 
The Board fixes the compensation of the Principal and his as- 
sistants. The main object of the Institution is declared to be 
to afford the means of education to the indigent deaf and dumb, 
and th© blind of the State ; but those who are able^ may avail 
themselves of its advantages, by paying tuitior and other es- 
penses. 

An application for admission must be in writing, sworn to, and 



63 

addressed to the Board of Commissioners, and must state name, 
age, place of birth, and present residence, and how long the ap- 
plicant has been a resident of this State ; that he is deaf and 
dumb, or blind, and that he is unable to pay board and tuition; 
and if he is unable to clothe himself, the Probate Judge of the 
county must so certify, and the Institution clothes him, and it is 
charged to his county. The Institution is, also, open at reason- 
able charges, to those who are able to pay, upon application, in 
writing, stating name, age, and residence. The ordinary branches 
of an English education and music are taught in the Institution ; 
and the French method of signs — the method of the " Abbe Si- 
cord," is employed. Pupils are, also, taught a trade by which they 
may support themselves when they leave. 

Since its opening, there have been received into the Institu- 
tion 200 pupils— forty of whom were blind. The number now* 
in the school, is fifty — mutes, thirty-eight ; blind, twelve. Both 
males and females are admitted. Full information furnished on 
application to the Principal. 

• THE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF ALABAMA, AT MOBILE, f 

In the year 1858, the physicians of Mobile felt the need of a 
Medical College in the State, and several of them, seven in num- 
ber, consulted together, and agreed to take steps for the estab- 
lishment of such. The late distinguished Professor J. C. Nott, 
*^ was enthusiastic in the undertaking, and principally through his 
influence the plan was carried out. A board of twelve trustees 
was selected, and some thirty or forty of the citizens of Mobile 
subscribed about fifty thousand dollars to purchase a museum 
and chemical apparatus, and Professor IJfott, in the summer of 
1859, proceded to the European capitals, for the purpose of se- 
lecting specimens to illustrate the various branches of medicine. 
The articles for the museum arrived in the autumn, and the Col- 
lege opened in a rented building, with one hundred and eleven 
students. The museum was selected with great care, and was 
considered one of the best, if not the very best, medical mu- 
seums in the United States. Encouraged by their success, the 
Faculty and Trustees applied to the Legislature of Alabama, and 
a charter, with an appropriation of fifty thousand dollars, was ob- 
tained, in 1860. 

This large amount of raoney was expended in earectixig a com- 
________^ ._- ; 

t This CoUege, though not strictly a State institntion, is more conveniently classed 
as such. 



64 

modious building, which, for size and appointments, is second to 
none in the country. 

The second course of lectures was delivered in the new Col- 
lege, and was attended by one hundred and thirty-two students. 
The College was rapidly gaining reputation, when the civil war 
broke out, and put a stop to all the educational establishments in 
the South. Six, out of seven, of the professors, went into the 
military service, and nothing was done in the way of lecturing 
during the remainder of the war. At the close of the war, the 
Freedmen's Bureau took possession of the College, and main- 
tained it as a primary school for young negroes, for nearly two 
years. In 1868, having got possession of the building, the Faculty 
issued a circular for a course of lectures, and since that period, 
lectures have been steadily going on during the fall and winter 
seasons, to the present time. The poverty of the South, since 
the war, has prevented a large number of young men from study- 
ing the learned professions ; but still the attendance at the Med- 
ical College of Alabama has averaged from fifty to ninety students 
at each session. The number of alumni, since the opening of the 
institution, amounts to over three hundred, and these graduates 
are scattered, principally, through Louisiana, Alabama, Missis- 
sippi, Georgia, Florida, and Texas. 

The course of instruction is now very thorough. The law to 
" regulate the practice of medicine in Alabama," passed at the 
last session of the Legislature, requires that the students should 
be taught with great care, and to this end, the Professors in the 
several departments labor assiduously to make the course as 
thorough and practical as possible. The large hospitals in Mobile 
are freely made use of in the study of disease at the bedside of 
the sick. 

The College has no regular endowments, but, in addition to 
the original appropriation, the Legislature, in 1870, made an ap- 
propriation of ten thousand dollars for necessary repairs on the 
building. The institution has no connection with the State, ex- 
cept that, when it ceases to be used as a Medical College, the 
building is to revert to the University of the State. Such are 
the terms of the charter. The charter also gives the Faculty the 
full privilege of filling vacant chairs, and, by a vote of two-thirds, 
of getting rid of the occupant of any chair for incapacity or 
other good cause. At the present time, there are eight full Pro- 
fessorships, each Professor being fully qualified to teach his par- 
ticular branch. The Faculty, however, contemplate making new 
special departments, as occasion, and the onward march of medi- 



cine require. Mobile has been proven to be a good centre for. 
the diffusion of medical knowledge. Its genial climate, its nat- 
ural advantages, and the general hospitality of its inhabitants, all 
contribute towards making it a proper site for a medical school; 
and no pains are spared by the Faculty to make the school at- 
tractive and useful. The library of the College consists of some 
four hundred volumes and pamphlets. The books of plates are 
very valuable, and very useful in illustrating the lectures. The 
members of the medical profession of the State are in sympathy 
with the institution, and have contributed to the museum a great 
many valuable specimens bearing on medical and surgical path- 
ology. 

THE ALABAMA INSANE HOSPITAL. 

This state institution, supported by annual appropriations of 
the General Assembly, is located in the county of Tuscaloosa, 
about one mile from the city, and easily accessible by the trains 
of the Alabama Great Southern Eailroad, and the steamboats of 
the Warrior Kiver. The site, a very pretty and healthful one, 
was selected with great care by a committee of five Commis- 
sioners appointed for the purpose. The Hospital was estab- 
lished by an act of the General Assembly, approved February 6, 
1852 ; but it was not completed until 1860. This act created a 
fund, to consist of 5 per cent, of the total revenue of the State, 
other than from trust funds, for four years, to purchase a site and 
lands, and erect suitable buildings. By an act of February 6, 
1856, an additional sum of $150,000 was appropriated to complete 
the Hospital ; and by an act of February 6, 1858, the further sum 
of $5,000 was added to purchase furniture, and enclose forty acres 
of the grounds around the building, with a plank fence and 
live hedge. February 21, 1860, another act appropriated $25,000, 
to complete the purchase of furniture and pay the resident 
officials of the institution. 

The main object of the Hospital is declared to be to provide 
accommodation for the indigent insane of the State ; but paying 
patients are admitted on reasonable terms. The Hospital is 
open to both white and colored, male and female ; but the two 
races are provided for in separate ai d distinct apartments. The 
institution was thrown open to the public, in 1860, and Dr. Peter 
Bryce, an accomplished physician and most exemplary gentleman, 
elected its Superintendent — a position he has filled ever since, 
with great credit to himself and advantage to the State. His ad- 
ministration has been faultless, and under his management, this 



great charity has done immense good in humanely providing for 
those whose affliction must ever awaken the tenderest sympathy. 
The Hospital is under the control of a Board of Trustees, con- 
sisting of a President, and six others, appointed by the Governor 
and confirmed by the Senate. The officials of the Hospital are, 
a Superinteudei't, Treasurer, two Assistant Physicians — one for 
the male, the other for the female department, a Steward, and 
Matron. These are ealled the resident officers, and, with the 
exception of the Treasurer, must reside in the Hospital. The 
Superintendent and the Treasurer are appointed by the. Trustees; 
the former for eight years. The Superintendent appoints the 
Assistant Physicians, Steward. Matron, and all the nurses, ser- 
vants, agents, and other employes of the institution, and has 
direct supervision and control of them, is accountable for all their 
acts, and may discharge them at pleasure. Th<:^ Trustees fix the 
salaries of all employed about the Hospital, that of the Superin- 
tendent included, and may remove any of them. The act, estab- 
lishing the institution, requires the Superintendent to be a skillful 
physician, of a humane, kindly, disposition ; bear an unblemished 
moral character ; be a married man, and reside, with his family, in 
the Hospital. 

The clothing, board, medical attendance, and nursing of the 
indigent insane are provided at the expense of the State, which 
allows the Hospital $4 a week for each such patient. Criminals, 
who are insane, are, also, sent to this Hospital, and supported by 
the State, with the same allowance. Paying patients pay accord- 
ing to care received, and, before admission, are required to 
furnish bond for charges, and pay t'-ree months in advance. In 
the order of admission, the indigent in' ane have precedence of the 
rich, and recent cases of both classes over those of long stand- 
ing. Non-resident paying patients are admitted whenever there 
are vacancies unclaimed by residents. The capacity of the Hos- 
pital. is always taxed to the utmost, and frequently there are no 
vacancies. There are now * 400 patients in the institution. 

The Hospital buildings are constructed of brick, with solid 
foundations, and comprise a large central building, four stories 
high, and surmounted by a handsome dome, with a wing three 
stories high, extending in a right line on either side. Viewed 
from the front or rear, the buildings present a right line of 784 
feet. The sills and caps of the doors and windows are of stone ; 
and the pa>rtition walls of brick;, thus rendering the buildings fire 
proof. The roofs are covered with tin. As an additional safe- 

* May 16, 1878. 



«7 

guard against fire, the Hospital is supplied with a fire engine and 
hose — which can, in a moment, be attached to pipes leading from 
the tanks in the attic, and any part of the buildings flooded. The 
institution has, also, a number of Fire Extinguishers. Every 
care is taken to prevent fire, and the danger of such is reduced 
to a minimum, » 

The central building contains some thirty large rooms — exclu- 
sive of a beautiful and commodious Chapel — and is appropriated 
to business offices, public parlors, officers' quarters, kitchens, 
storerooms, and servants' rooms. The wings, together, contain 
eighteen Ha'ls or Wards, and upwards of three hundred Dormi- 
tories for the use of patients. Bach ward has a distinct dining 
room, parlor, bath room, drying room, and water closet; and is 
intended to accommodate about twenty patients. 

The Hospital is provided with an improved French Eange, 
for culinary purposes, and to supply hot water. It has, also, a 
Steam Laundry, well fitted up with tJ^e most improved washing 
machines, rinsing tubs, etc.; a30-horse power steam engine: 
two steam pumps ; a grist mill ; and machine shop. The barns, 
stables, and cattle sheds, are built of brick, and are very conve- 
nient and commodious. 

The farm and garden of the institution, comprising, together, 
about 100 acres of arable land, and which are models of energy, 
skill, and taste, are in the highest state of cultivation, and yield 
enormously. Most of this work is performed by the patients, 
and the product contributes greatly to the suppo'^t of the insti- 
tution. The flower gardens and hot houses of the Hospital, are 
very rare and extensive, and a source of perpetual interest to its 
inmates. Every ward overlooks beautiful and fragrant parterres. 
In fair weather these gardens and lawns are dotted in every di- 
rection with groups of patients, cultivating or gathering flowers. 
The sewing bees of the female patients add largely to the re- 
sources of the institution, in the great number of articles ot 
male and female wearing a.p'^arel made at them. 

The patients are cheerful and happy, and the institution ranks 
among the very best of such establishments in this or foreign 
countries. In 1876*, the proportion of cures to admissions was 
40 per cent., and the mortality during that year less than 5 per 
cent, of the whole number under treatment — the deaths, even at 
that low rate, being, for the most part, confined to the aged, and 
those whose constitutions had been exhausted by long continned 

* The statistics of this year are taken, becatise the sessions of the Legislature be- 
ing biennial, there has been no report of the Superintendent since. 



6% 

bodily and mental disease. With but two exceptions, there has 
been no case of suicide, homicide, or even severe violence, com- 
mitted in the Hospital during the whole course of its existence. 
These exceptions occurred in the year 1876, when one patient 
strangled himself in the night time in his room, with a small linen 
♦pocket-handkerchief, twisted very tightly about his neck and at- 
tached to the low foot board of his bedstead ; and another was 
drowned in the Warrior river in an attempt to escape. No 
blame, whatever, attached to the officials for either of these 
deaths — to guard against which being beyond the power of hu- 
man foresight and watchfulness. 

The moral and disciplinary treatment of the patients is mild 
and humane, and marked by an entire absence of forcje, and un- 
necessary restraint. Only when it becomes absolutely essential 
to the patie' t's good is he restrained in any way, and then in the 
gentlest and most parental manner. Every effort is made to 
amuse and divert the patients and facilitate their restoration, by 
evening walks, carriage drives, stereoscoptical exhibitions, mu- 
sical concerts, amateur dramatic performances, dancing, tea par- 
ties, public lectures, debating societies, and conversational soirees. 
Frequently dramatic troupes, visiting Tuscaloosa, give free exhi- 
bitions at the Hospital. There are, also, quilting, knitting, and 
sewing bees among the female patients ; while for the males, 
there is a beautiful ten-pin alley and billiard room, well fitted up. 
There is, also, a fine library in the institution, filled with books, 
periodicals, and pictures — many of which were donated by the be- 
nevolent. A large number of newspapers are sent to the insti- 
tution by their publishers, free. There is a beautiful chapel 
in the central building, where daily morning prayer by the Super- 
intendent is had, with singing and organ accompaniment 5 and on 
Sunday afternoons, services by the ministers of the various re- 
ligious orders in Tuscaloosa. For a number of years, and until 
quite recently, there was an interesting little paper, called the 
Meteor, edited and printed exclusively by the patients, issued 
monthly from the hospital. From its opening until October 1, 
1876,* there had been admitted into the institution 1205 patients ; 
of which number 679 were males, and 526 females. 

THE ALABAMA PENITENTIARY. 

This institution is located at the town of Wetumpka, in the 
county of Elmore, and on the left bank of the Coosa Eiver, 
about 37 niiles, by wat r, northwest of the city of Montgomery. 

* Date of last Report. 



69 

At present, it is accessible by the steamboats of the river; but 
when the branch railroad now under construction, is completed 
between Wetumpka and Elmore station, on the South and North 
Alabama Eailroad, it will have ample rail communication. The 
location is a healthy one, and the Penitentiary, with its hills and 
high surroundings, and the beautiful ( oosa river flowing imme- 
diately in its rear, has very much the appearance of a Baronial 
Castle of the Old World, and looks like anythi g, but a prison. 

It was established by an act of the General Assembly, ap- 
proved January 26, 1839 ; and opened for the reception of con- 
victs, February 8, 1842, at which time the new penal code of the 
State, adapted to Penitentiary punishments, and adopted by act 
of January 9, 1841, also became operative under the proclama- 
tion of Gov. Bagby. It will thus be seen that the Penitentiary 
has been in active operation for more than 36 years ; and its for- 
tunes and experiences during that time have been very varying. 
At times a cripple, supported by and embarrassing the State— at 
other times, self-supporting and a source of revenue to the State. 

The act of January 26, 1839, appropriated $30,000 to purchase 
land and erect buildings. Wetumpka was selected as the iJace of 
location by a joint vote of the General Assembly— the act of 
1839, requiring that the institution should be located at a point 
not exceeding 50 miles from the centre of the State. By the 
same ^ct, three Commissioners were required to be appointed to 
superintend the erection of the buildings ; and three others to 
compile a penal code adapted to the Penitentiary system. By 
act of January 8, 1841, the sum of $36,000, additional, was ap- 
propriated to complete the buildings. 

The prison was managed by the State, and supported by an- 
nual appropriations, until 1846, when the first law authorizing its 
lease was passed, February 4, of that year. Under this act, the 
institution was leased to Jno. G. Graham. At the expiration of 
his lease in 18 >2, it was leased to Jordan & Moore. Their term 
expiring in 1858, it was leased to Burrows, RAt, & Co. In 
1862, two years before this lease e^^pired, Dr Burrows was 
killed by one of the convicts, and the prison reverted to the 
State, when Dr. M. G. Moore was appointed Warden, and con- 
tinued as such until 1867, when the institution was leased to 
Smith & McMillan. This lease ex iring, Dr. *Moore was again 
made Warden. In 1872, Gov. Lewis appointed Larkin Wdlis, 
Warden; and in 1874, when Gov. Houston came into power, he 
appointed the present Warden, Col. Jno. G. Bass, who has con- 



JO 

tinued to fill the office until now, with signal credit to himself and 
profit to the State. 

The first act authorizing the lessee of the Penitentiary to 
work the convicts outside the walls, was auproved December 
6, 1866. 

By authority of an act approved March 29, 1873, a farm and 
mules were purchased by the State, to be used in connection with 
the Penitentiary — upon which farm so much of the convict labor 
as could be profitably employed,, was required to be worked. 
Bonds of the State, having ten years to run and constiuting a 
lien on the land, were given in payment. The farm is in Elmote 
county, near the Penitentiary. The farm not proving a success, 
it was, by act of March 10, 1875, in effect returned to its vendor 
to keep for eight years, and he given the labor of 100 convicts, 
free, for that period, on condition of a surrender to the State 
of the bonds issued to him. The mules and material on the farm 
were, also, turned over to him, for eight years, without charge. 

By an act of March 18, 1875, the Warden was authorized to 
hire out the convicts to contractors, anywhere in the State. 
Such contracts not to be for a longer term than 5 years, and to be 
approved by the Grovernor. But the Warden is required to em- 
ploy as many within the walls as he can profitably. 

The chief Executive officer of the Penitentiary, is the Warden, 
who has immediate superintendence and control of the institu- 
tion. He is appointed by the Governor. There is, also, a Board 
of Inspectors, which make the rules and regulations of the insti- 
tution, and is required to visit and inspect it regularly, and report 
to the Governor. 

The buildings of the Penitentiary present an imposing and at- 
tractive front, facing to the east. Extending the entire distance 
of this front, and 60 feet in width, is a fine yard, enclosed with 
neat palings, and lined with shade trees. In this yard are 
handsome summer houses, and cultivated shrubbery, the work of 
the present Warden, as was, also, the enclosing of the yard. In 
the front of this yard, and still to the east, lie the garden, stock 
lots, and rich meadow of the institution, covering about 35 acres 
of land. The garden is made to produce a superabundance of 
vegetables for the Prison uses. The walls of the Prison, run- 
ning back to the west, enclose four acres of ground in a square. 
This court has, also, been adorned by the present Warden, with 
shade trees, affd is kept as neat as Madison Square, in New York 
City. On the west side of this court, is a line of good and sub- 
stantial brick buildings, in excellent repair, in which are the 



71 

kitchen, dining room, Deputy Warden's office, chapel, and black- 
smith and wood shops. A similar line of buildings extends 
across the north side of the court, in which are the paint shop, 
granaries, stables, storing rooms, etc. In the centre of the yard, 
and in excellent repair, is av commodious hospital building, of 
brick. There are five hydrants connected with the Prison, af- 
fording a bountiful supply of pure freestone water, conducted by 
pipes from the cool springs of the mountains, which are near by 
and overlook the Prison. There are, also, bath and wash-houses. 
Immediately in rear of the Prison, flows on in ceaseless and 
me ry ripples, the beautiful Coosa river, whose transparent 
waters, mirroring the blue skies, eventually lose themselves in 
the Bay of Mobile. 

Previous to the administration of Col. Bass, the Penitentiary 
was a great burden to the State, and had become very much di- 
lapidated ; but under his efficient management, the institution has 
been completely re-habilitated, and is now prosperous and a 
source of much annual revenue to the State. The discipline is 
humane, but firm j the health of the convicts good, and the es- 
capes few, when it is taken into consideration how many of the 
convicts are employed outside the walls by private contractors. 
When they escape, they are almost invariably re-captured. The 
penalty for escaping, or attempting to escape, is double the term 
of the original sentence, to commence at the expiration of the 
latter. Under the act of March 18, 1875, there is a large and 
growing demand for convict labor, a large amount of which is em- 
ployed in the coal and iron mines of the State. The convicts, as 
a rule, prefer to work out to remaining within the walls of the 
Prison. The number at work outside the walls on the 30th day 
of September, 1877, was 577. The amount earned by convict la- 
bor from all sources under contract during the fiscal year ending 
that day was $26,471.18, to which must be added I1L7.00 due from 
the United States for feeding its prisoners. The total expendi- 
tures during the same eriod, and which included $300 paid for 30 
acres of land, amounted to $7,640.25 — showing a balance of re- 
ceipts over expenditures, of $18,947.93. Add to this, the year's 
value of the labor of the 100 convicts turned over to Thos. Wil- 
liams, and being the third yearly installment paid on account of 
the penitentiary farm purchased from him — $6,000-, the value 
of labor performed on the Wetumpka Branch Eailroad by con- 
victs under Warden Bass, at the <^xpense of the State — $2,801.00; 
and $3,651.35 for permanent improvements made by convict labor 
within the walls, and it will be seen that the real net income to 



. . It 

the State during that fiscal year, from the Penitentiary, was $3i,- 
400.28. 

The total number of convicts in the Penitentiary October 1, 
1876, was 520. Eeceived between October 1, 1876 and October 
1, 1877, 311. dumber discharged," died, pardoned, etc., during 
that time, 176. Eemaiiiing in the Penitentiary October 1, 1877, 
655. Of the 520 convicts remaining on hand October 1, 1876, and 
the 311 received between that date and October 1, 1876, 519 were 
natives of Alabama; 750 colored; 256 were convicted of burglary, 
266 of grand larceny, and 96 of murder. 



Part Sixth. 



Sketches of the Four Principal Cities of Alabama^ and of Bir- 
mingham, and Cullman. 



MOBILE. 



Mobile is first among the cities of Alabama, in point of area, 
population, and general importance. It is situated in latitude 30° 
42' N., longitude 88° W.; and on the right bank of Mobile Eiver, 
immediately at the head of Mobile Bay, from which it de- 
rived its name.* It is, by rail, 180 miles southwest of Mont- 
gomery, Alabama, and 141, east by north, of New Orleans, 
Louisiana; and about 30, by water, to the north of Mobile Point, 
where the Gulf of Mexico begins. 

The site of Mobile, as originally established by Bienville in 
1702, was at the mouth of Dog Eiver, some eight or nine miles to 
the south of the present city, on the western shore of the Bay ;t 
but owing to inundations and other causes, it was, in 1711, re- 
moved by him to where the city now stands.^ The settlement at 
Mobile was first under the dominion of France, then of Spain, 
afterwards of England, and finally came under that of the United 
States. These changes in ownership will account for the varied 
styles of architecture to be found within the city's limits. Mo- 
bile was incorporated as a city, by an act of the Alabama Legisla- 
ture, approved December 19, 1819. It is built on a sandy plateau, 
only slightly elevated above the level of the ^ea, but sufficiently 
so for fair natural drainage. The soil consists of a coarse, loose, 
sand, which absorbs the heaviest rains in a few hours, leaving the 
streets perfectly dry. The country skirting the river bank, im- 
mediately to the north of Mobile, and also that to the east of the 
city for a number of miles, is marshy, and, at certain seasons of 
the year, malarial ; but on the south and southwest there is a 
broad sweep to the Gulf, with nothing to obstruct the delightful 
salt breeze for which Mobile is so noted, and which moderates 
the summer temperature to an extent sufficient to render the 
city, at all times, comparatively cool and pleasant, with a ther- 
mometer below that of many interior cities of much higher lati- 

*'For origin of the name. Mobile, see ante, p. 5, note. 
t Pickett's History of Alabama, Vol. 1, p. 191. 
X Pickett's History of Alabama, Vol. 1, p. 207. 



74 

tudeS. On the west and northwest of the city, the adjoining 
country is made up of high, sandy, health-giving pine hills, where 
pure water is abundant, and malaria unknown ; affording excel- 
lent summer homes, and inexpensive retreats from the heat and 
dust of the city during the hot months. 

The corporate limits of Mobile extend six miles, north and 
south ; and from two and a half to three, east and west. Its 
streets, especially those of the more modern portions, are gen- 
erally wide and well laid off, and lined with beautiful shade trees 
— the live oak, water oak, magnolia, etc., giving the city a semi- 
tropical appearance. Flowers and flower gardens abound, and 
the orange with its sweet blossom and delicious fruit can be 
seen in many yards. 

By the Federal census of 1870, Mobile is given a population 
of 32,034, only; but more recent and caref dly prepared statistics 
under the supervision of the city's efficient Board of Health, 
make the population, at present, about 40,000. 

At one time in the history of Mobile, it had the reputation of 
being unhealthy, owing to several severe yellow fever visitations ; 
but later developments in sanitary science by its able medical 
faculty, has fully demonstrated that this fever never originates in 
Mobile, and is always imported. A system of quarantine in- 
augurated on this theory, a number of years ago, and rigidly en- 
forced during the summer months, has had the effect of keeping 
the city entirely free of the fever, notwithstanding it has since, 
frequently raged with violence at other less guarded points on 
the Gulf and Atlantic seaboards. As a result of this perfect 
quarantine, which so completely protects the city from a danger 
once common to all Southern seaports, Mobile is now justly re- 
garded as one of the liealthiest cities in the Union, as the follow- 
ing mortality table, compiled by an eminent physician of IsTash- 
ville, Tenn., will attest : 

-y . ' While Death Rale Colored Death Rate 
^*"**' Population. per I, QUO. Population. per 1 OOP. 

Memphis 35 000 18.06 15,000 40.06 

Chattanooga 7,000 18.60 4,500 20.60 

Knoxville 8.000 18.00 5 000 41.00 

Richmond 42,830 17 30 32.170 28.13 

Dist. of Columbia.. 115,000 19 22 45,000 .47.60 

Baltimore 305.000 19 80 45 000 34.42 

Mobile 28,000 12 15 12 000 23 18 

Seima 3,500 14.28 4.000 18 88 

New Orleans 155 000 25.45 55,000 39.60 

Charleston 24 528 27 21 32.002 41.96 

Nashville 17,509 21.82 9,582 38 50 

Average 19.27 33.90 



It will be seen from this table, that with the exception of 
Selma, another Alabama city, and Chattanooga, the aggregate 
death rate among the whites and blacks of Mobile, is much less 
than that of either of the other eight cities named — some of 
which are noted for their healthfulness — as for examples, Knox- 
ville, and Eichmond, situated, respectively, in Tennessee and 
Virginia, two of the most salubrious of the States of the Union. 
As an evidence of the effective protection against yellow fever, 
afforded by strict quarantine, it may be stated that, during the 
four years of the war, when all communication with the outside 
world was cut off by the blockade, Mobile, and the whole Gulf 
coast, remained absolutely free of the fever, thus demonstrating, 
beyond reasonable doubt, that it is always imported and never 
originates in the city. Yet, if by accident, the fever should ever 
again be brought to Mobile, the increased facilities for avoiding 
its approach, afforded by the many new lines of railroad, and 
street railways, leading out of the city to the neighboring safe 
retreats, will greatly diminish, if not entirely destroy, its force. 

Mobile is supplied by a system of works, with pure, whole- 
some water, from the pine hills, in rear of the city ; and lighted 
with gas, to a large extent manufactured from coal, taken from 
the immense measures in the interior of the State. 

The city is divided into eight wards, and governed by a Mayor, 
Board of eight Common Councilmen, and Board of twenty-four 
Aldermen— with a full corps of subordinate officials, and an ef- 
ficient police department. It is, also, the County Seat of Mobile 
county, and among its public buildings, is a large, commodious, 
and conveniently arranged county Court-house, just completed, 
at a cost of over one hundred thousand dollars. The other prin- 
cipal public buildings in the city, are the Custom House, a massive 
structure of Massachusetts Granite, containing the United States 
Post Office, offices of the Collector of Customs, Collector of In- 
ternal Revenue, United States Land Office, and rooms of the 
United States Circuit and District Courts; the Municipal Build- 
ings, containing the principal Markets of the city, the offices of 
the city officials, and Armory of the First Kegiment Alabama 
State Troops; the Battle Hause, the principal hotel; Barton 
Academy, a large and fine public school building; the Medical 
College of Alabama ; the City Hospital; United States Marine 
Hospital ; and Providence Infirmary. There are, also, a Theatre, 
and several other large public halls of amusement; many 
asylums, both Protestant and Catholic ; and numerous elegant 



76 . 

and imposing church edifices — every religious denomination 
being fully represented in Mobile. 

A well equipped Fire Department ; and all the other appliances 
of an important city, in the way of banks, fire and life insurance 
companies, newspapers, lodges, club rooms, relief and benevo- 
lent associations. Boards of Health and Trade, Cotton Exchange, 
street railways, mills, manufactories, etc., are to be found in 
Mobile. ° 

The Shell Eoad, for which Mobile is so celebrated, extending 
to the south of the city for about seven miles, is a beautiful and 
exhilarating drive, as it winds along the western and Magnolia 
fringed shore of the lovely bay. Frascati Garden, on this road, 
about two miles south of Mobile, immediately fronting the bay, 
and fanned by its sweet breezes, is the famous pleasure resort of 
the people of Mobile. Arlington, about one and a half miles 
farther to the south, on the same road, and facing the bay, is an- 
other popular resort for the citizens of Mobile. At Arlington, are 
the extensive grounds of the Agricultural and Mechanical Asso- 
ciation of Mobile, where are annually held fair and floral exhibi- 
tions in the spring of the year, which attract hither thousands 
from the interior of this and adjoining States. 

Four great lines of railroad radiate from Mobile — the Mobile 
and Ohio, from Mobile to Columbus, Kentucky, a distance of 472 
miles, all under one management; the Mobile and Montgomery, 
from Mobile to Montgomery, a distance of 180 miles ; the ]!^ew 
Orleans and Mobile, from Mobile to New Orleans, a distance of 
141 miles; and the Mobile and Alabama Grand Trunk, projected 
from Mobile to Birmingham, a distance of 232 miles, and com- 
pleted to the Tombigbee river, a distance of 59 miles from 
Mobile. Fine steamers ply regularly the waters of the rivers 
emptying into Mobile Bay, going throughout many months of the 
year, as high as We uinpka, on the Coosa, Aberdeen, on the Little 
Tombigbee, and Tuskaloosa, on the Black Warrior. Mobile is a 
Port of Entry and one of the largest cotton exporting cities in 
the United States -the number of bales of cotton exported from 
this port, alone, during the season of 1877-78, was as follows : To 
foreign ports, 164,093; coastwise, 253,000; total, 417,093 bales. 
Mobile, also, exports largely of naval stores, and this trade has 
increased rapidly since the war, until it has become one of the 
leading branch s of its commerce. The pine forests immediately 
adjacent are very valuable in this, as well as in other respects, 
and producers are yearly increasing the capacity of their orchards 
and stills. Timber exporting, and coffae importing, are two other 



77 

/ 

principal and remunerative features of the city's trade; -while the 
raising and shipping of early fruits and vegetables to nothern 
eastern and western markets, is a very lucrative business, 
owing to the light and productive nature of the soil in the imme- 
diate vicinity of Mobile. This industry has grown rapidly within 
a few years past, until it has assumed very large proportions. 
It invites the attention of, and is sure of reward to, the frugal and 
attentive gardener. Th-e canning of these fruits and vegetables, 
also, offers inducements to capital and labor; -as does, also, the 
can-ning of oysters, which are here found in abundance and of the 
finest quality. Mobile is, also, noted, and just'y so, for its excel- 
lent fish market, for here are to b^, had and in unlimited quan- 
tities, nearly every species of fish. Game, too, abounds— in 
certain seasons the country being literally alive, with wild duck, 
deer, etc. Taken all in all, no more desirable city home is to be 
found in the Pouth, than Mobile; where the climate is equable, 
the people hospitable, and life supported with much comfort, 
and, comparatively, little labor. 

MONTGOMERY. 

Montgomery, the Capital of Alabama, and Seat of Justice 
of Montgomery county, is situated near the centre of the State, 
and on the east bank of the Alabama river, 400 miles, by water, 
above Mobile. About 20 miles to the north of the city, the 
Coosa, and Tallapoosa rivers unite, and form the Alabama. 
This last river, in its sinuous course to the sea, makes a great 
bend in front of Montgomery, resembling a narrow link or loop, 
at the southeastern extremity of which is the city. So tortuous 
is this bend, that the distance around is some twelve miles, while 
the distance across is not one. 

Montgomery is located on a steep, wide bluff, running back 
from the river, and its site was called by the modern Indians, 
Cimnnanugga Chatty, or, High Red Bluff; and sometimes. Hostile 
Bluff, from the hostile character of the Indians residing in its 
vicinity. The site of the present city was unquestionably known 
to the Mound Builders^ a race of Indians living in the territory of 
what is, now, the State of Alabama, long anterior to the app ear- 
Wee of the white man, or even the modern Indians. The existence 
of these Mound Builders in and around this particular locality, 
was fully attested by two mounds discovered there by the first 
white settlers, and remaining to attract the curious, until 1833, 
when the earth composing them was utilized to make brick for 
the Planters' Hotel, of Montgomery, and the mounds so obliterat- 



78 

ed. The larger of these mounds, was about ninety feet square, 
and twenty-five feet high, and from its summit grew a hickory 
tree, at least a century and a half old when first seen. There 
were exhumed from these mounds, when leveled, human bones, 
arrow heads, trinkets, etc. The modern Indians knew nothing 
of the building of these mounds, or of their singular builders, 
the race having disappeared long anterior to the former's appear- 
ance here. « 

The Spaniards, under DeSoto, were, probably, the first Euro- 
peans to catch a glimpse of this locality, as the route of that 
famous adventurer through Alabama in 1540, doubtless lay near, 
if not over the very spot, where Montgomery now stands. The 
next were the French, when, in 1714, Bienville's fleet of boats 
pushed up the Alabama river to establish "Fort Toulouse," near 
the site of the present town of Tuskegee, in Macon County, Ala- 
bama. The English did not visit it until after their occupation of 
this old fort in 1763. 

New PhiladelpJiia, by which name the white settlement at 
Montgomery was first known, was founded by Andrew Dexter, 
who came from Massachusetts, in 1817, and planted the colony, 
which grew rapidly and within three years time numbered nearly 
500 inhabitants. In 1818, the towns of Uast Alabama, and Ala- 
bama., were founded in the immediate vicinity of New Philadel- 
phia ; but the existence of Alabama town was transitory, and its 
lines soon disappeared. 

By an act of the State Legislature, approved December 3, 
1819, the hitherto rival towns of New PhiladelpMa^ and Uast 
Alabama^ were incorporated into one, under the name of Mont- 
gomery, in honor of Gen. Eichard Montgomery, the hero of Que- 
bec, who fell December 31, 1775, in the attack on that place. 

By an act, approved, December 23, 1837, Montgomery was 
chartered as a eity* 

The removal of the State Capital to Montgomery in 1846, was 
the most important event in the city's history, and tended most 
to its advancement. Relying upon its favorable situation, from a 
geographical stand point, and confident that it would eventually 
become the seat of the State Government, Mr. Dexter, from the 
first had reserved and set apart the high and beautiful grounds in 
the city upon which the capitol buOding now stands, for that pur- 
pose ; but the generous giver did not live to realize his expecta- 
tions, for not until some twenty years after his death, was the re- 
moval effected. 

* The first steam boat which ascended as high as Montgomery from Mobile, was the 
Harriet, in 1821 . This boat made the trip in ten days. 



79 

The original capitol building was soon under contract, the city 
issuing its bonds to the amount of $75,000 to build it ; and the 
elegant structure was completed in time for the session of 1846. 
Unfortunately, this, first, building was destroyed by fire, Decem- 
ber 14, 1849, and as there was no insurance with which to rebuild, 
and the city had already exhausted its resources, it was feared 
for a time that the strong efforts made, just after the fire, to re- 
move the seat of government would be successful; but they were 
not, and the Legislature, then in session, by a suitable appropria- 
tion began the work of rebuilding, and the new, and prese-nt, 
capitol was soon erected. - 

Montgomery will always enjoy the distinction of having been 
the first capital of the Confederate States of America ; for here, 
February 4, 1861, delegates from six seceding States assembled 
to organize the Government of that Eepublic ; here its Constitu- 
tion was adopted in the same year ; and here, February 18, 1861, 
on the steps of the capitol, J« fferson Davis was inaugurated first 
President, and Alexander H. Stephens, first Vice-President, of a 
power which has passed from among the nations of the earth 
forever, but whose brief existence was like some brilliant meteor, 
and the record of whose armies is marked with a fortitude and 
daring, unsurpassed by the trained legions of the great Napoleon 
or the serried columns of the Iron Duke. 

Montgomery, in the beauty and changing character of its to- 
pography, is one of the most attractive cities of the South, and 
its site is admirably adapted to the wants and capacities of a 
large city, which it is destined one day to become. It has a sandy 
soil, with a clay foundation, and its natural drainage is very fine. 
The streets of the city are ver;^ wide, and handsomely laid out, 
and al! of them well shaded. Montgomery is noted for the 
beauty and elegance of its private residences ; many of which 
embowered in cool groves, arrest attention and suggest a life of 
quiet repose, and a high order of refinement. Here, too, flowers 
abound, filling the air with fragrance, and delighting the eye with 
variety. 

The health of the city is excellent, and its mortality tables will 
compare most favorably with those of other cities of the Union. 
It is exempt from disease, generally, except light malarial fevers 
in the early fall, superinduced, as a rule, by imprudence in diet, or 
exposure to the sun. 

The city is supplied, by a system of new and powerful works, 
with an abundance of water from the Alabama Eiver ; and lighted 
throughout with gas, from Alabama coal. 



8o 

By the Federal census of 1870, Montgomery is given a popu- 
lation of 10,588 ; but nearly a decade has passed since then, and 
its present population is fairly estimated at 15,000. 

The city is divided into six wards, and is governed by a Mayor, 
and Board of twelve Aldermen, two from each ward ; with a com- 
petent corps of subordinate city officials. 

It has many extensive public buildings, among which may be 
enumerated the Temple, Market-house, and Exchange Hotel — 
the ^-tate Capitol has, already, been mentioned. It has, also, a 
well-arranged and elegant theatre, and several other public halls 
of amusement. The town hall in the Market-house, is said to be 
one of the largest in the South. The various religious denomina- 
tions are fully represented in Montgomery, by many fine church 
edifices. The city has an efficient Fire Department, a full com- 
plement of banks, insurance companies, newspapers, lodges, etc., 
and several manufactories. Among the last may be mentioned the 
ice factory, and cotton seed oil oiills. 

Montgomery's geographical location for trade is not surpassed 
by any interior city of the State. Within a mile of its corporate 
limits begin the rich prairie lands on the south, and south-east, 
which are continuous for twenty-six miles ; while on the east and 
west, lands of rare fertility approach very near to the city. 

The railroad system of Montgomery is an admirable one, aud 
places the city in direct communication with all points, north, 
east, south and west. Montgomery has in fact, since the war, be 
come a very important railroad centre ; and there are four ex- 
tensive lines of railroad leading from the city— the South and 
North Alabama, to Birmingham; the Western, to West Point, 
with a branch to Selma ; the Montgomery and Eufaula, to Eufaula; 
and the Mobile and Montgomery, to Mobile. Fine steamers, also, 
ply the Alabama regularly between Mobile and Montgomery, 
making quick trips, and affording excellent commercial facilities. 

The principal trade of Montgomery is in cotton, and the city 
received during the season of 1877-78, 106,000 bales. A power- 
ful compress located in the city, enables much of this cotton to 
go by rail to larger markets— for examples, Boston, Philadelphia 
and Fall Eiver. 

Montgomery has a fine market for the table, which is always 
abundantly supplied with the delicacies of the season, and living 
in the city is comparatively inexpensive. It is furnished with 
fish and oysters from Mobile, Pensacola and Savannah. 

Like Mobile, Montgomery will afford an excellent Southern 
home, to those who may seek Alabama, and prefer a city residence. 



8i 

Its people are kind, hospitable, and peaceable, and gladly welcome 
all who come with an intention to obey the laws and aid in build- 
ing up the city. 

SELMA. 

Selma, a growing and important city of Alabama, is the Seat 
of Justice of Dallas county, one of the great agricultural coun- 
ties of the State — a county ranking third in the list in point of 
population and wealth. The city is situated on a spacious plateau, 
on the north bank of the Alabama river, one hundred feet above 
its low water. Selma is about 50 miles, by rail, west of Mont- 
gomeryj and 308 miles, by water, above Mobile. The founder of 
Selma, was Thomas Moore, who located there in 1816, aod the 
settlement was first called Moore's Bluff, but afterwards, the 
name of Selma was given to it, the original of which is to be 
found in. Ossian — the Songs of Selma. It was incorporated by 
the latter name, December 4, 1820. The first brick house erected 
in Selma was in 1822. In 1850, its population was 2,073 ; in 1860, 
3,177 ; and in 1870, 6,484. At present, it is probably 10,000. The 
removal of the court-house from Cahaba to Selma, in 1866, did 
much to increase its population and trade. 

Selma was a very important military depot of the Confederate 
States, and, during the late war, a large powder mill, extensive 
nitre works, arsenal, and shot and shell foundry, were success- 
fully operated there. April, 2, 1865, Selma was stormed and cap- 
tured by Gen. Wilson, of the United States army, who burned all 
these works, with much of the business portion of the city. 
Selma is a very attractive city, both as a place of residence and 
business, and its future prospects are among the brightest in the 
State. Wi'h the development of Alabama, will certainly come 
the growth and material prosperity of Selma, situated as it is in 
the richest agricultural district of the State, and just below the 
mineral region, where lie, buried, potent agencies in the building 
up of cities. 

The soil of the city, like that of Montgomery, is sandy, and 
the drainage good. Like Montgomery, too, its streets are wide 
and well shaded, and present a very attractive appearance. 
Selma has many fine residences, and handsome public buildings, 
while the church edifices of the city are numerous and commo- 
dious. 

The health of the city is good, and epidemics are never known. 
The city is well watered, and lighted with gas, manufactured from 
Alabama coal, taken from the measures just above. The Muni- 



82 

cipal Government consists of a Mayor, and Board of Councilmen 
— two from <)ach of the four wards. The city has a well admin- 
istered Fire Department ; and a full complement of banks, insur- 
ance companies, and other necessary institutions. Among its 
manufactories, is the Mathews Cotton Mill, one of the largest and 
best managed in the ^tate. 

Selma is admirably situated for trade, and disputes with Mont- 
gomery the reputation of being the second cotton receiving city 
in the State -its receipts for the past season,* being about 92,000 
bales. 

To a large extent, it draws trade from the rich prairie and cane- 
brake counties of Perry, Hale, Marengo, and Wilcox, ap well as 
from Dallas; and furnishes supplies to a large number of the 
mineral counties of Alabama, to the north. 

The lines of completed railroad radiating from Selma, are the 
Selma, Eome, and Dalton, from Selma to Dalton, Georgia, a dis- 
tance of 236 miles ; the Alabama Central, from Selma to Meri- 
dian, Mississippi, a distance of 108 miles ; t and a branch of the 
Western railroad, connecting Selma with Montgomery, a distance 
of 50 miles. The projected, but uncompleted lines, are, the New 
Orleans and Selma, completed to Martin, in Dallas county, a dis- 
tance of 21 miles ; the Selma, Marion, and Memphis, completed 
to Sawyers', in Hale county, a distance of 60 miles ; | and the 
Selma and Gulf, completed to Pineapple, in Wilcox county, a dis- 
tance of 40 miles. 

The Selma table market is an excellent one, and supplied, at 
all seasons, with the necessaries and delicacies of life, to be had 
at comparatively small cost. 

The citizens of Selma are law abiding, industrious, and hospi- 
table; proud of the reputation of their promising city, and 
anxious to have strangers come and settle among them. 

HUNTSVILLE. 

Lying in the beautiful, salubrious, and fertile valley of the Ten- 
nessee Eiver, in Alabama, which is formed by the southernmost 
spurs of the Cumberland Mountains — eighteen miles south of the 
northern boundary of the State, and about ten miles north of 
the river, is Huntsville, the fourth city of the State. It has an 
elevation of 692 feet above tide water at Mobile, and is in lati- 

* Season of 1877-78. 

t 27 miles of this distance, viz ■■ from Yox-k to Meridian, are over the traols of the 
Alabama Great Southern Railroad. 

1 14 miles of this distance, viz : From Selma t6 the Junction, are overth© track of 
the Alabama Central Railroad, 



83 

tude 34<^ 40' 44", Nestling among the hills and mountains of that 
high region, the city is noted for its picturesque natural beauty 
and attractiveness, no less than for the historic incidents which 
have transpired within its limits ; while in massiveness and sta- 
bility of structure, it compares favorably with any city of its size 
in the Union. It was settled in 1807, by John Hunt, an East Ten- 
nessean ; and the tide of immigration which set in immediately, 
was rapid. The original settlers of Huntsville were, principally, 
from Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia, with some from 
Georgia. Notwithstanding Hunt was the founder, the first 
name given the new settlement was Twiclcenham.* In 1811, the 
name was changed to Huntsville, in honor of its founder.f The 
town of Huntsville was incorporated in 1811 4 

The soil of the valley, in which Huntsville is located, is a rich 
chocolate-colored loam, with a subsoil of pure, red, clay — very 
fertile, and producing large and varied crops of cotton, corn, oats, 
wheat, rye, barley, clover, millet, timothy, blue grass, and red top, 
and orchard grass, etc.; while the geological formations underlying 
it, belong to the sub-carboniferous groups of limestone. 

The health of Huntsville is excellent, while its elevated location 
and mountain surroundings free it from the enervating heats of 
some parts of the lower country. The mean temperature through- 
out the year, is 57° Farenheit -heat in summer 74°, cold in win- 
ter 40°. In the reported opinion of the War Department, Hunts- 
ville, in a sanitary point of view, is said to be the best military 
post in the United States. 

Within half a mile to the eastward of the city, its summit 
reached by a turnpike from the city, rises to the height of 1,040 
feet above the plain, a mountainous elevation, known as Monte 
iSawo— a cool refuge during the summer months, with a climate 
closely resembling that of the northern portion of North Caro- 
lina, and the valley of the French Broad. 

The city is laid out in the form of a square, its corporate lim- 
its extending three-fourths of a mile on either side of the Court- 
house, as the centre of the square. The general structure of its 
public buildings is of a character for durability and elegance sel- 
dom seen in a city no larger ; while its church edifices are very 

* See Act Mississippi Territorial Legislature, passed December 23, 1809, in Toul- 
mJTi'a Digest of I^ws of Alabama, page 106. 

t See Act of Miaaisslppi TeiTitorial Le.gisjature, pasyetl JToVteajiber 25, 1811, fa 
Tomlmin'B Digest LawB of Alabaraa, pa^ 774. 

t See Ac* of Mis&issippd Territorial Legislature, passed December 9, ISll, in Toul- 
min' 8 Digest Laws of Alabama, page 774. As settlemeytts , Mobile and St. Stephens 
long ante-date Huntsville', but as an incorporated town, it was the first in the State, or 
rather, Territory, of Alabama. 



84 

handsome, and costly. The character of its private residences 
is not inferior to that of its public buildings. The streets of the 
city are broad, well graded, solidly and smoothly macadamized, 
and almost exempt from mud and dust, with superior drainage. 

Among the many natural advantages of Huntsville, may be 
mentioned the large and famous limestone spring, known as The 
Big Spring, which issues from under a rocky bluff, 75 feet high, 
on the top of which is the public square. This spring is said to 
be the largest in the United States — so large that, in times past, 
the stream flowing from it was utilized to float to the Tennessee 
Eiver, boats with a capacity of 50 bales of cotton. Its water, 
which is clear, cold, only moderately hard, and of excellent qual- 
ity, is forced, partly by steam, but mainly by its own power, to a 
reservoir, which supplies the city. 

The city is well lighted with the best quality of coal gas, made 
from Alabama coal. The educational advantages of Huntsville are 
fine, for here are located the Huntsville Female College, and the 
Eotherwood Home for female pupils, both of long standing and 
well patronized. 

Huntsville has three weekly newspapers. It is the county 
seat of Madison county. The Memphis and Charleston Eailroad, 
which passes through the city, places it in easy and direct com- 
munication with the outside world. The population of the city, 
by the Federal census of 1870, was 4,907 ; but it is, now, fairly es- 
timated at 6,000. 

Huntsville has probably given to the State more illustrious 
names than any other city within its borders, and is indelibly con- 
nected with its history. It was in Huntsville, that the Conven- 
tion met in 181 9, which gave to the State its first constitution ; 
and, here, in the same year, was convened the first Legislature of 
the newly created State of Alabama. 

BIRMINGHAM. 

Birmingham, the county site of Jefferson county, is situ- 
ated about 30 miles northward of the centre of the State, at the 
intersection of the Alabama Great Southern, and the South and 
North Alabama Eailroads, in the midst of what is commonly 
known as the mineral region of the State. The* former railroad 
extends from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Meridian, Mississippi ; 
the latter is a link in the chain of roads extending from Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, to Montgomery, Alabama, known as the Louis- 
ville, and Great Southern Eailroad. 



8s 

About one mile to the southeast of the corporation, lies Eed 
Mountain, said to be, both as to quantity and accessibility, the 
most remarkable deposit of iron ore yet known. It extends in 
a northeasterly and southwesterly direction, parallel with the 
Alabama Great Southern Eailroad,* for about 30 miles below and 
the same distance above the city, attaining its maximum depth of 
ore opposite the latter* place, where it contains several seams of 
ore averaging nearly 50 per cent, of metal and aggregating about 
25 feet of vertical depth. The ores are Eed and Brown Fossilif- 
erous. Besides these, there are Magnetic and Black Band ores 
within reach and of easy access. 

On either side of Jones' Valley, in which Birmingham is 
located, and which is here about five miles in width, lie to the 
southeast and northwest, respectively, the Oahaba and the 
Warrior Coal Fields, both of which are traversed by the South 
and North Alabama Eailroad. A dozen or more mines are ope- 
rated near Birmingham, along the latter road ; to say nothing of 
others off the railroads, which are worked in a rather primitive 
way, the coal being haul 'd in wagons to market. Another rail- 
road is soon to be built about six miles westward from Birming- 
ham, into the Warrior Goal Field, by means of which road, its 
projectors say, they will deliver the best quality of coal in Bir- 
mingham for $1.25 per ton. 

The climate of Birmingham is mild and pleasant. The ther- 
mometer ranges in summer from about 60° to 90°, while in winter 
it rarely gets below 20°. The health of the community is excel- 
lent. Chills and fever or other malarial diseases rarely ever 
occur. 

The soil of the country adjacent to the city is well adapted to 
growing the cereals, grasses, fruits, and vegetables. Much atten- 
tion has lately been given to fruit raising and gardening, and 
Birmingham has, in consequence, become quite a market for these 
productions, much of which being shipped to the Northwest. 

The unequalled advantages presented by the location for man- 
ufacturing, as well as for trade, will be apparent to an intelligent 
mind. The cheapness of all the raw materials for making iron, 
and of coal for steam purposes, transportation facilities, together 
with the healthfulness of the climate and fertility of the soil 
combine to place it in the front rank as a manufacturing centre. 

In may be proper to mention here, that the early completion 
of the Mobile and Alabama Grand Trunk Eailroad, from Mobile to 
this city, is an assured fact, wbich will give the shortest and most 
direct route to the Gulf. 



86 

The history of Birmingham dates from July, 1871. Previous to 
this and before the railroads, above mentioned, were definitely 
located, the Elyton Land Company was incorporated, and bought 
up about 4,000 acres of land, immediately surrounding the cross- 
ing of the railroads, upon which was laid out the present city, 
after the most approved plan. 

The new-born city grew and prospered, for a while, but re- 
ceived a temporary check in 1873. Having taken its second 
growth, it has recovered itself, and its progress, for the last two or 
three years, has been steadily upward. Its population is, now, esti- 
mated at from 3,000 to 3,500. The General Ofaces of the South and 
North Alabama Railroad are here, audits chief officers reside here. 
The machine shops, also, of this road are here, giving employment 
to a large number of thrifty mechanics, many of whom have 
bought lots, bunt houses, and permanently settled in the city. 

The General Land Office of the Alabama Great Southern 
Eailroad, is here, and the Assistant Superintendent of the road, 
resides here, also. 

Among its other industries and institutions, are, two flouring 
and grist mills, two foundries and machine shops, one steam 
boiler factory, one furniture factory, one planing mill and chair 
factory, one agricultural implement works, a National bank, 
a free public school, several well kept hotels, numerous well 
stocked stores, six churches, and various other institutions which 
pertain to a prosperous city. The county Court-house located 
here, is said to be one of the finest in the State. 

Water is supplied by a well planned and built system of 
water works, the water being taken from Village Creek, two 
miles distant, whence it is pumped by a Worthington duplex 
steam pump, into a reservoir 130 feet above the level of the city. 
Thence it is distributed throughout the city in mains of sufficient 
size for fire protection, as well as affording ample supplies for 
domestic use and manufacturing purposes. 

When its geographical position, healthful location, commercial 
facilities, and contiguity to the rich mineral deposits of the State, 
are all taken into consideration, it will be evident to any one, 
that the future of Birmingham is bright with promise, and the 
hopes of its projectors destined to brilliant realization. 

THE aERMAN TOWN AND COLONY OF CULLMAN. 

In September, 1872, the South and North Alabama, a link in 
the great c!iain of Railroads connecting Montgomery, Ala., with 



87 

Louisville, Ky., was completed and opened to business. Of the 
lands along its line, granted to the road by Congress, 300,000 
acres were placed for .ale, in the hands of Mr. Jno. G. Cullman, 
an influential German — the founder of the Colony, and in whose 
honor, it, and the town, were named. On these lands, thirty-three 
miles south of Decatur, Ala., upon a high and healthy plateau, which 
seemed as if expressly made for the purpose, Mr. Cullman located 
the site of his future Colony. His first advertisement, inviting 
settlers, was in January, 1873, and in February following, five 
German families arrived and settled there. At this time, the 
country was all forest, with hardly a house to be seen, and but 
few inhabitants. ISTow, there are more than six hundred German 
families residing in the town, and within a circle of ten miles 
around it, and the whole appearance of things has been com- 
pletely metamorphosed by German energy, thrift, and industry. 

The town of Cullman is laid off on the most approved plan, and 
surveyed into lots of 165x132 feet, each containing half an acre, 
with streets one hundred feet wide ; has a handsome depot, with 
telegraph and express offices, and is one of the best and busiest 
stations on the South and North Alabama Eailroad. It has, also, 
three good hotels, seven well-stocked stores, one large steam 
flouring mill, two wagon factories and blacksmith shops, three cigar 
manufactories, two tanneries, eight saw mills contiguous, one lime 
kiln and brick yard, two shingle and two barrel manufactories, 
one furniture factory and planing mill, one fruit canning and dry- 
ing establishment, one brewery, one livery stable, two weekly 
newspapers, postofi&ce and money order office, school, Protestant 
Church, Catholic Church, two beer saloons, a drug store and two 
good physicians, with butchers, bakers, shoemakers, carpenters, 
tailors, watchmakers, etc. 

Surprisingly rapid as has been the growth of the town of Cull- 
man, that of the Colony has been even more so. Settlements 
have sprung up as if by magic, and where only wood and waste 
were seen before, comfortable dwelling houses, stables, barns, 
etc., are found, surrounded by cultivated fields with good fences, 
orchards, vegetable, and flower gardens. If among these, the 
farm of an old inhabitant is seen, the difference in favor of Ger- 
man labor is apparent at once, and this marked difference has a 
good effect in stimulating the owner to keep pace with his new 
neighbor. 

The climate of this town and colony is said to be the healthiest 
in the United States, and to this fact is attributable much of its 
rapid growth and success. Good water abounds, and the site is 



702 feet above the sea level, at Mobile. Epidemics are unknown^ 
and fevers rare. The summers are not oppressive, with cool 
nights ; the winter's short and mild. Snow seldom falls, and, 
when it does, quickly disappears. The soU is a sandy loam, vary- 
ing in depth from six to ten inches, with a sub-soil principally of 
yellow clay, ' mixed with sand ; very productive, with but little 
manure. Crops of nearly every variety can be raised on the 
lands of the Colony, such as corn, cotton, wheat, rye, barley, 
oats, buckwheat, hemp, tobacco, flax, sorghum, broom corn, sweet 
and Irish potatoes, hops, mUlet, pea-nuts, clover and other grasses, 
garden vegetables, etc. Frequently, three crops, in rotation, can 
be raised in one season. The country is especially adapted to 
wine growing, as innumerable extensive and flourishing vineyards 
attest. It is proposed to build a Orape Cure hotel m the town, 
in connection with a fine chalybeate spring existing there. The 
Department reports of the United States designate this locality 
as the finest for fruit culture in the Union. Apples, pears, 
peaches, apricots, strawberries, and German prunes, are some 
among the numerous cultivated fruits which grow here in abun- 
dance; while wild grapes, plums, berries, etc., are to be found in 
profusion. The woods are abundantly supplied with timber for 
building and manufacturing purposes ; and there is very fine water 
power. The Colony is rich, also, in iron and coal, while lead and 
silver have been found in several localities. New settlers, mostly 
German, for the Colony is German, continue to arrive almost 
daily, and the population is steadily increasing. The officials of 
the South and North Alabama Eailroad, are warm friends of the 
Colony, and do all in their power to encourage immigration. One 
hundred thousand acres of land, lying within the limits of the 
Colony, have lately been disposed of to the CMcago Farm and 
Town Association, which will materially assist in rapidly peo- 
pling it. 

The County of Cullman was incorporated Janury 24, 3877, and 
was formed out of portions of Blount, Winston, and Morgan 
counties. The town of Cullman is the county site. There is a 
printed pamphlet, fully descriptive of this colony, and illustrative 
of its many social and natural advantages, published by Mr. Jno. 
G. Cullman, which can be had, free, on application to him, at 
Cullman, Cullman county, Alabama. 



Part Seventh. 



The Water Transportation Lines, and Projected Canals of Alabama. 



WATER TRANSPORTATION LINES OF ALABAMA. 

Alabama ranks among the first of the States of the Union 
in the number, extent, and value, of her magnificent Water 
Lines. Every section, and nearly every county, of the State, is 
watered and afforded commercial facilities by some one or more 
of its navigable rivers ; while the large creeks, and other streams, 
which flow through and irrigate the soil, are almost innumerable. 
A single glance at the accompanying map, of Alabama, will verify 
these assertions. 

The importance and value to the State of these great outlets, 
made to hand by nature, and requiring only a small expenditure 
of time and money to make them po'ent agents in its develop- 
ment, cannot well be overestimated. 

Commerce follows the course of navigable rivers by prefer- 
ence. Between St. Louis and the cities on the Missouri, all the 
heavy trade is done by river, though a railroad runs parallel with 
almost its whole length. These cities have been made great by 
their rivers more than by their railroads, because the former have 
served both as means of communication with places not reached 
by rail, and as checks upon the latter. Louisville ships a car load 
of salt for a certain amount, by rail to Chattanooga, an inland 
town, at present debarred from river communication. Louisville 
ships the same car load on one of her rail lines, for the same dis- 
tance, running parallel with the Ohio river, at one-third the cost 
of the carriage to Chattanooga, simply because a boat will carry 
it at that price. If Pittsburg, Cincinnati, New Orleans, St. Louis, 
and St. Paul, depended on railroads, alone, for the transportation 
of their heavy produce, their commercial importance would not 
be what it is to-day. The same causes which have operated on 
the Ohio river in creating the wealthy manufacturing districts in 
Ohio and Pennsylvania, exist here, and only need to be brought 
into activity by the opening of our rivers to produce a trans- 
formation in the condition of this State similar to that which has 
taken place, during the last thirty years, on the upper Ohio. 



90 

To further illustrate of what immense value to Alabama these 
great water courses will be when properly improved, and to show 
the relative cost of transportation by water and rail, witn the 
great advantage of the former over the latter mode, in point of 
cheapness, it will only be necessary to cite here some statistics, 
collected by the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, Washington, 
D. 0.5 and embraced in his annual report for 1876. This report 
says : 

The average cost of moving, by rail, one ton of freight from Louia- 
ville to Chattanooga, 336 miles, is $3.62, and the average charge for mov- 
ing one ton the same distance is $5.64 ; while, on the Ohio river, the av- 
erage cost of transporting one ton of coal from Pittsburg to Louisville, 
a distance of 600 miles, is only 56 cents, yet the distance is nearly twice 
as great. And the average cost of carrying one ton of coal from Pitts- 
burg to New Orleans, a distance of 2,000 miles, is only $1.05. In both 
instances, the coal is carried in large barges, towed by powerful steam- 
ers. It is a noted fact, however, that freights have been carried, for long 
distances, on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroads, in 
1875, at 66 cents per ton per mile. But, says the Auditor of the Canal 
Department, State of New York, 1876: 

The pending campaign against the water route is unquestionably 
causing great loss to the roads. Of this fact, we only know what the 
officers of the roads choose to make public. For the fiscal year, ending 
September 3U, 1869, the year preceding the reduction in canal tolls, the 
gross earnings of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad 
Company, exceeded the payments, other than for construction, $1,137,- 
767.65; and for 1875, the payments, other than for construction, exceeded 
the gross earnings $1 581 ,654.29. 

The above rate, 66 cents per ton per mile, is the lowest ever 
touched in the history of rail freighting, except in temporary 
exigencies. Yet, at this rate, it would cost $13.20 to carry a ton 
of coal 2,000 miles by rail. Hence, as Prof. Maury truly said, " it 
is almost childish to compare the cost of transportation by 'rail 
versus water.' " 

Prof Toumey, late State Geologist, in his report on the 
geological formations of the 8tate, said : 

The rivers of Alabama, whether we consider them as one of the 
great physical features of the State, or in an economical point of view, 
are exceedingly interesting. There is scarcely an extensive and really 
valuable agricultural tract in the St^te that has nut its navigable stream. 

The first of these Water Lines is, 

MOBILE BAY AND HARBOR.* 

The Bay of Mobile— the great reservoir of South Alabama, 

* Tor much of the data relating to Mobile Bay, and for its distances and depths, the 
author is indebted to Maj. A. N. Damrell, U. S. Engineer officer in charge ; under whose 
very efficient administration nearly all the work tending to its improvement, has 
been done. 



91 

is a beautiful expanse of water, and, all things considered, the 
finest harbor on the Gulf of Mexico. It took its name from 
the Mobile Indians, who once lived upon its salubrious 
shores.* It has all the essentials of a good harbor, except great 
depth, and that can readily be obtained at, comparatively, little 
cost. The bay is nearly lund-locked, and its Lower Anchorage, 
twenty-seven milesf south of the wharves at the city of Mobile, 
with an area of from ten to twelve square miles and an average 
depth of twenty-two feet,f affords a safe and capacious road- 
stead for vessels of that draught. It is not subject to tornadoes, 
and, in it, no vessel was ever lost by storm. For the past thirty 
years, but one vessel has been dismasted in Mobile Bay, and that 
was by a water spout. Vessels seldom drag their anchors in it, 
owing to its fine holding ground, and but few have ever been 
blown ashore 

The length of the Bay, from its mouth to the city wharves, is 
thirty miles. Its width, immediately at its entrance from the 
Gulf, three and a quarter miles. At its Lower Anchorage, it is 
from twenty to twenty-two miles wide, and at its Northern 
extremity not more than eight and a half. 

From the Lower Anchorage, north, the water shoals, until, at 
a distance of six miles, it is not deeper than thirteen feet. Pro- 
ceeding north, for the next eleven miles and until the bar at the 
Mouth of Dog Eiver, on the western side of the Bay, known as 
Dog River Bar is reached, there is a good natural channel of 
twelve and a half feet depth. On this bar, and Choctaw Pass 
Bar, immediately at the mouth of Mobile river, the natural depth 
of the water, in the shoalest part, did not exceed eight feet ; but 
the Government of the United States has just completed by 
steam dredging, and at a cost of $300,000, a channel over these 
two bars and to the city, of thirteen feet depth, and from two hun- 
dred to three hundred feet in width. Vessels, therefore, drawing 
not more than twelve and a half feet can now pass up, without 
difficulty, to the wharves of Mobile city; but those of greater 
draught are still compelled to lie considerably lower in the bay, 
whUe The Fleet, of heavy cotton and timber ships, lies at the 
Lower Anchorage. 

This dredged channel, from the mouth of Dog Eiver, is staked 
at points with stakes, distinctly visible in the day, and sur- 
mounted at night with lanterns. 

* See ante, p. 5, note, 

t Wherever miles is used in connection with any of the water lines of Alabama, 
statute miles are meant. 

X The depths in the bay are all given at mean low tide. 



The Eiver and Harbor Bill for 1878, appropriated $10,000, for 
a proper survey of the Bay, with a view of determining the feas- 
ibility and cost of deepening this already dredged channel to 
twenty-two feet, and continuing it, at that depth, to the Lower 
Anchorage. This survey is now in progress, and will be com- 
pleted, and a Eeport made before the assembling of Congress, in 
December, 1878. It is believed that $1,500,000 will give such a 
channel, and that Congress will, at its next session, begin the 
appropriations, when the work will be promptly inaugurated. 
With deep water to the city wharves, the removal of the obstruc- 
tions in the Coosa and Black Warrior rivers, and the completion 
of the Mobile and Alabama Grand Trunk Eailway from Mobile city 
to Birmingham, Alabama, Mobile Bay, besides affording the finest 
facilities for exporting and importing other products, will become 
a great outlet for the iron and other mineral treasures of North- 
ern Alabama, and the coaling station for the Gulf Marine. 

The entrance to Mobile Bay is defended by Fort Morgan, on 
Mobile Point, and Fort Gaines, on Dauphin Island — the distance 
across being three and a quarter miles, but the channel through 
which an enemy's vessel, entering the Bay, would have to pass, 
is within less than half a mile of the heavy guns of Fort Morgan. 
There is a Light House on Mobile Point, and another on Sand 
Island, three and a quarter miles further south, in the Gulf; and 
the United States Light House Service for the Eighth District, 
comprising this portion of the Gulf Coast, has its Engineer 
Headquarters at Mobile. The Mobile Break-water, an exten- 
sive work for loading and unloading vessels, is located at the 
Lower Anchorage. 

MOBILE RIVER. * 

Proceeding north from Mobile Bay, the second of Alabama's 
great water lines, is Mobile Eiver; formed by the junction of 
the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, about fifty miles north of the 
city of Mobile, where begins the Delta of the Bay. f This broad, 
deep, and short river, has, now, depth and width sufficient for all 
commercial purposes ever likely to be required of it, and over it, 
without difficulty, passes, at present, the entire traffic of the Al- 
abama, Tombigbee, Little (or Upper) Tombigbee, and Black War- 

* For Landings on tlie Mobile River, witli their distances from Mobile, see 

Al»PENDIX. 

t The distances on the i-ivers of Alabama, unless otherwise noted, are given as they 
run, that is, according to steamboat measurement. They have been obtained by care- 
ful examination of all accessible written and printed data, and by consultation with 
the best informed pilots, and will be found sufficiently accurate for all general pur- 
poses. 



93 

rior, rivers. When the Coosa river obstructions are removed, 
the commerce of that great water line, from Eome, Georgia, and 
above, will also seek its natural outlet over this stream ; and if 
the Guntersville and Gadsden Canal, connecting the waters of 
the Coosa and Tennessee rivers, is ever completed, the immense 
trade of the latter great river will, likewise, be directed this 
way. 

Mobile river bounds, in a measure, the counties of Mobile and 
Baldwin, and sweeping by the city of Mobile, empties into the 
Bay of Mobile, just below the city. 

ALABAMA RIVER. * 

This river, considering its length, and, to the State, economic 
value, is the greatest of the rivers of Alabama, and from it, as 
has been seen,! the State derived its name. Formed by the con- 
fluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, a little southeast of 
the centre of the State, the Alabama pursues its sinuous course 
along the loose, sandy, strata that underlie the rotten limestone 
of the counties of Elmore, Montgomery, Autauga, Lowndes, 
Dallas, Wilcox, Monroe, Clarke, and Baldwin, until it tinally 
mingles its waters with those of the Tombigbee, | about fifty miles 
above the city of Mobile, and makes the Mobile river. From the 
confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa, to its own confluence 
with the Tombigbee, the Alabama is, by United States survey, 
312 miles in length ; but. the steamboat measurement makes it 
420. The Alabama has an average width§ of from 200 to 300 yards 
throught its entire length, and a depth to Claiborne, in Monroe 
county, 146 miles from Mobile city, of from six to seven feet; 
from Claiborne to Montgomery, the depth varies from three to five 
feet. No effort beyond a partial survey and examination, has, so 
far, been made to improve the navigation of the Alabama, and it 
has been left to take care of itself ; but, notwithstanding this 
neglect, by both the State and general Government, it continues 
navigable all the year from mouth to source, for steamers of not 
exceeding three feet draught, and during the late fall, and winter 
months for those of any draught. The obstructions to very low 
water navigation on the Alabama, are such as are common to all 

*For landings on the Alabama river, with their distances from Mobile, see Ap- 
pendix. 

t Ante. p. 1. 

t Prof. Tourney says: The convergence of the Alabama toward the Tombigbee, is 
the result of that dynamical law, "a. body in motion will follow the line of least resis- 
tance. ' ' 

§ The width and depths in this river, and the other water lines of Alabama, are 
given at low water. 



• 94 

our rivers, below the falls, resulting from abrupt bends, sudden 
widening causing the formation of sand and gravel bars, sub- 
merged logs which have floated in, over-hanging timber, and now 
and then the sunken wreck of a steamer, or other water craft. 
The examination alluded to, and which was made by Assistant 
Engineer G. B. Yuille, under the direction of Major A. N. Dam- 
rell, the United States Engineer ofiBcer in charge of this depart- 
ment, gave results from which it is estimated that it will require 
$229,741, to remove these obstructions and give a low water 
channel, all the year, from Mobile to Wetumpka, 4 feet deep, and 
200 feet wide ; or $759,773 for such a channel 6 feet deep, and 150 
feet wide. A channel of the first dimensions will be amply suf- 
ficient for all present purposes. The Eiver and Harbor Bill 
for 1878, appropriated $25,000 for the improvement of the Ala- 
bama, and it is confidently believed that the appropriations will 
be annually increased hen after untU the whole work is com- 
pleted. 

Eight of the nine counties bordering the Alabama, viz : El- 
more, Montgomery, Autauga, Lowndes, Dallas, Wilcox, Monroe, 
and Clarke, are among the finest agricultural counties of the 
State, containing a large area of cotton and corn producing land, 
not excelled in the South. The agricultural capabilities of the 
alluvial bottoms of these counties, along the Alabama river espe- 
cially, are very great, and food and raiment spring here almost 
spontaneously. The county of Baldwin, though not so well 
adapted to agricultural purposes, produces in its immense forests 
of pine, great quantities of fine rosin, and turpentine, besides 
affording excellent pasturage for sheep raising, and wool grow- 
ing. 

The timber along, or accessible by, the Alabama river, is very 
heavy, and, owing to its great variety and superior quality, very 
valuable. 

On or contiguous to the Alabama, are many important cities 
and towns, to which the river affords commercial facilities. 

Steamers rarely fail to ascend the Alabama, regularly, all the 
year from Mobile to Montgomery. During the season of 1877- 
78, Mobile received by the steamers of the Alabama river 52,424 
bales of cotton ; and it is estimated that, but for low water, not 
less than 20,000 bales more, which were diverted by rail to the 
Atlantic seaboard, would have sought a market in Mobile. This 
alone will shcfw the vital importanoe to Mobile and the Staie gen- 
erally, of the early improvement of this great water line. The 



95 

Principal Landings on the Alabama are, Claiborne, Cahaba, Selma, 
Benton, Montgomery, and Wetumpka (on the Ooosa). 

TOMBIGBEE RIVER.* f 

This is the next| in the scale of the great rivers of Alabama, 
and it is formed by the confluence of the Little (or Upper) Tom- 
bigbee, and Black Warrior rivers, in the northern edge of Ma- 
rengo county, Alabama, about three-quarters of a mile above the 
city of Demopolis. Flowing southwardly, it waters and affords 
fine commercial facilities to large portions of the counties of Ma- 
rengo, Sumpter, Choctaw, Clarke, and Washington, until, uniting 
with the Alabama 243 miles south of Demopolis, and 50 north of 
Mobile city, it contributes to make the Mobile river. 

The Tombigbee, like its great neighbor, the Alabama, has 
hitherto received but little attention from any source ; but the 
Eiver and Harbor Bill, for 1878, appropriated $28,000, to be ex- 
pended partly in improving it, and partly in improving the Black 
Warrior, one of its feeders. The Tombigbee is navigable all the 
year, throughout its entire length — in the low water season for 
steamers of not exceeding two and a half or three feet draught; 
and during the late fall, and the winter and spring months, for 
those of any draught. Like the Alabama and other navigable 
rivers of the State, the obstructions to very low water navigation 
on the Tombigbee, are the result of abrupt bends, sudden widen- 
ing causing bars, overhanging timber, sunken logs, and wrecks, 
all of which are easily and inexpensively removable ; and it is 
thought the appropriation already secured to that end, will result 
in much good. The worst obstructions to its navigation in low 
water, are between Bladon Springs and Demopolis, a distance of 
99 miles, and it is estimated that it will require a total of about 
$21,000 for the work on that part of the river. The lands along 
this river are noted for their great productiveness, while the 
heavy and varied timber skirting, and contiguous to it, is of the 
very best quality. Steamers ply regularly, winter and summer, 
on the Tombigbee, between Mobile and Demopolis. The number 
of bales of cotton passing over the Tombigbee and Little Tom- 
bigbee, and seeking a market at Mobile, during the season of 
1877-78, was 79,259. 

* Name a corruption of Etomba-Igahy , wMcli signified Box-Maker'' s Creek, and was 
the Indian appellation of a creek which flows into the river at Jones' Blnff, and from 
which the river took its name. The ci-eek was so-called from the fact, *hat an old cof- 
fin or cabinet maker lived on its bank^ at Jones' BluJE. ; 

t For landings on the Tombigbee, with their distances from Mobile, see Aftekdix. 

t It may be objected that the Tennessee river ranks next after the Alabama ; but, 
ested by present utility to the State, the Tombigbee is really nest in value. 



96 

The principal landings on the Tombigbee, are, St. Stephens, 
Midway (the landing for Bladon Springs), Tuscahoma, and Demop- 
olis. 

LITTLE (OR upper) TOMBIGBEE RIVER.* 

This is one of the feeders of the Tombigbee, and might well 
be considered but its upper end. The Little Tombigbee has 
its source high up in I^orth-eastern Mississippi, and its waters, 
seeking their natural outlet in the Gulf of Mexico, flow south- 
wardly, and enter the State of Alabama over the western boun- 
dary line of Pickens County. The principal Mississippi cities on 
its banks are Columbus, and Aberdeen, both of which are closely 
connected, commercially, by means of this river, with the city of 
Mobile. The Little Tombigbee waters and, during about seven 
months of the year, affords commercial facilities to three very 
superior agricultural counties of Alabama — Pickens, Greene, and 
Sumpter; besides a number of Mississippi counties which trade 
with Mobile. This river is, also, obstructed in very low water by 
sand and gravel bars, sunken logs, snags, etc. About $10,000, 
appropriated by Congress, have already been expended in its 
improvement, partly in Alabama and partly in Mississippi, with 
good effect. An estimate, basetl on official figures, gives $56,500 
as the amount required to improve the Little Tombigbee from its 
mouth to Fulton, in the State of Mississippi. Another estimate 
makes the total sum required only $50,000, as follows, $35,000 to 
remove the obstructions between Fulton and Columbus, Missis- 
sippi, and $15,000 to remove those between Columbus, Missis- 
sippi and Pickensville, Alabama. It is, also, estimated that there 
are not less than 60,000 bales of cotton grown annually above 
Pickensville, which, with a proper improvement of the Little 
Tombigbee, would seek a market at Mobile, but which are now 
diverted by reason of these obstructions in low water. 

The Eiver and Harbor Bill, for 1878, appropriated $12,000 for 
the improvement of the Little Tombigbee. 

The distance from Demopolis to Pickensville, by this river, is 
138 miles ; to Columbus, 177 miles ; to Cotton Gin Port, 237 miles; 
to Fulton, 320 miles. From Demopolis to Mobile, the distance is 
243 miles. There is, therefore, a total possible navigation all the 
year round, via this and the Tombigbee river, from Mobile, Ala- 
bama, to Fulton, Mississippi, a distance of 563 miles. 

*ror Landings on the Little Tombigbee., with tlieir distances from Mobile, see 
Appendix. 



97 

BLACK WAERIOR EIVEE.* f 

This is another, and destined in time to become the most im- 
portant, feeder of the Tombigbee. The Black Warrior is 
formed by the confluence of two forks — Locust, and Mulberry, 
which have their sources far up in the northern part of Alabama, 
extending over a wide area of country. Flowing southwest war dly, 
and gradually approaching each other, these two forks unite on 
the dividing line between Walker and Jefferson counties, and 
make the Black Warrior. Thence, the Warrior continues in the 
same general course for about 50 miles further, and until it 
reaches the city of Tuscaloosa, whence its course is more southerly, 
through or along the counties of Tuscaloosa, Greene, and Hale, 
until it unites with the Little (or Tipper) Tombigbee, 170 miles 
below Tuscaloosa, and makes the Tombigbee. 

Prof. Toumey, late State Geologist, in speaking of this river, says: 

It will be seen at a glance on the 'map how completely the upper 
Warrior conforms to the Warrior coal field. Rising on the verge of the 
Tennessee, it runs rapidly over the coal measures of the basin, which it 
drains. The fall of the Warrior between its source and Tuscaloosa is 
nearly 1,000 feet, or 5 feet to the mile, and between the latter place and 
Mobile, the rivers that unite with the Warrior have a fall of only 161 
feet, or 5 inches a mile. It is for this reason that the Warrior river rises, 
during floods, to the height of 50 feet at Tuscaloosa ; the water being 
suddenly checked and unable to escape with the rapidity of the rest of 
its course, accumulates as it reaches Tuscaloosa. 

Above Tuscaloosa, the Warrior is not navigable for steamers, 
owing to rocks, rapids, and other, at present, dangerous and im- 
passable impediments ; and even below, its navigation is totally 
suspended in low water, by obstructions similar to those in the 
Alabama, and Tombigbee — that is, abrupt bends, sand and gravel 
bars, submerged and over-hanging timber, etc. During the high 
water season, steamers of any draught ascend the Warrior regu- 
larly from its mouth to Tuscaloosa. Besides the city of Tuscaloosa, 
the principal landings- on this river, are Candy's, East Port, 
Finche's Ferry, and North Port, immediately opposite Tuscaloosa. 

Above Tuscaloosa, in juxtaposition with this river, lie the im- 
mense Warrior Coal Measures, to reach and develop which, is 
one of the great works of internal improvement now receiving 
the attention of the people of Alabama. These fields have an 
extended area, and are almost inexhaustible ; while the coal dug 
from them is of a superior quality. 

* In the language of the Choetaws, this ilver was known as the Tuacaloosee, from two 
Choctaw words, Thisca warrior, and Loosee, black. 

t For Landings on the Wanior, with their distances from Mobile, see Appendix. 



98 

The following extract from a letter of Col. Horace Harding, 
the EDgineer Officer in charge, under date of May 3d, 1878, and 
written in reply to one making inquiries, will show what has been 
done in the way of improving the Black Warrior, what remains 
to be done, and the valuable results to the State of Alabama to 
follow its proper improvement : 

A survey of the Warrior River was made ia the autumn of 1874, 
from which it was estimated, that to secure a low- water channel between 
Demopolis and Tuskaloosa, of not less than four feet in depth by eighty 
in width, would require an expenditure of $151,000, Of this amount, 
there has been appropriated the sum of $40,000, \iz: $25,000 on March 
3, 1875, and $15,000 on August 14, 1876. These appropriations have been 
nearly expended, during the working seasons of 1875-76-77. The work 
accomijlished, has been the improvement, more or less complete, of over 
30 bars, between Tuskaloosa and Finche's Ferry, and the removal of 
some 1,800 snags, between Tuskaloosa and Demopolis. There remain in 
the Warrior, some 60 bars to improve and about 500 sna-ys to take out, 
to accomplish which the balance of the original estimate will doubtless 
prove ample. There remains, also, a considerable amount of work to be 
done on the Bigbee, between Demopolis and Bladon Springs, the cost of 
which has heretofore been estimated at about $21,000. 

During the past season (the rivers rising in September), over 100,000 
bales of cotton have been taken down the Warrior and Bigbee to Mo- 
bile. The year before (with low water until January), only 50,000 bales 
were shipped by these rivers. The freight on the 100,000 bales shipped 
the past season, ranged from fifty cents to one dollar per bale, and, prob- 
ably, did not exceed in the aggregate, $75,000. The freight on a like 
number of bales the year before (one-half having to pay the higher rail- 
road rates of $2.00 and $2.50 per bale) probably amounted to $150,000. 
From this, it appears, that the river navigable throughout the cotton 
season, effects a saving as compared with the river notboatable until Jan- 
uary, of $75,000 in down freights. There must be, also, a large saving in 
up freights, so that it is safe to assume that with the river made naviga- 
ble throughout the year, the whole cost of the contemplated improve- 
ment might be re-imbursed to the community by the reduced charges on 
two years business. 

The effect of the river improvement upon the Mobile coal trade can- 
not fail to be of vast importance— in fact it will render it easy for Mobile 
to become one of the chief coaling stations on the Continent. I have 
had occasion to examine quite minutely into the cost of mining and 
transporting the Warrior coal, and from all the facts and data that I 
have been able to gather, I am satisfied that, with a navigable river, coal 
can be delivered in Mobile Bay at a total cost of not exceeding $2.00 per 
ton. I feel the more confident that I have not under -estimated in this 
case, from the fact that coal in barges from the Kanawha river of Vir- 
ginia was selling in Cincinnati, one month ago, at $1.75 per ton afloat. 
The price of coal, free on board, in Philadelphia and Baltimore, is, at 
present, about $3.50 per ton, with little or no profit to the capital invested 



99 

in the business. At this latter price in Mobile, however, there would be a 
clear profit of over $1.00 per ton. 

With the river, below Tuskaloosa, improved so as to be navigable for 
tugs and barges, the cost of iuauguraticg a coal business would be mod- 
erate. From 40,000 to 50,000 tous per annum could be mined and trans- 
ported on an investment of $60,000, and with $1.00 per ton profit on coal, 
dividends would be from 60 to 70 per cent. The business would increase 
with the capital, and in a faster ratio, and I estimate, approximately, 
that 1,000,000 tons, annually, could be handled on an investment of 
$600,000. That Mobile may do a coal business of this magnitude within a 
few years, will not be thought an extravagant supposition, when it is re- 
membered that Pittsburg, alone, uses and ships 9,000,000 tons per annum. 

The Eiver and Harbor BUI, for 1878, appropriated $28,000* for 
the improvement of the Black Warrior and Tombigbee rivers. 

CAHABA RIVER. 

Emptying into the Alabama, 289 miles above Mobile, and 19 
below Selma, is the Oahaba river, which takes its rise far back 
among the hills and mineral regions of Alabama, in or near the 
county of St. Clair, and flows down through the great coal and 
iron counties of Shelby and Bibb, and the rich agricultural 
counties of Perry and Dallas. The Oahaba, is, now, scarcely nav- 
igable at all for boats of any kind, though within 30 years last past, 
steamboats have ascended from its mouth to the town of Oentre- 
ville, in Bibb county, distant 80 miles. An official survey and ex- 
amination of the Cahaba, from its mouth to Centreville, has been 
made, from which it is estimated, that the cost of improving that 
portion of the river, so as to make it navigable for coal and other 
flat boats, would be about $40,000 ; or $195,000 to give a steam- 
boat channel three feet deep at all seasons. There are three 
bridges spanning this part of the river which it will be necessary 
to alter before there can be any navigation of it, and the figures 
given above are based upon having these bridges altered at the 
expense of the individuals or corporations owning or controlling 
them. On the lands below Centreville, and contiguous to the 
Cahaba, about 30,000 bales of cotton are grown annually, which, 
at present, go elsewhere, but which would be marketed in Mo- 
bile by way of this river, if it was properly improved. 

At Centreville, and above, the bed of the Cahaba is composed 
of hard rock, removable only at great expense. Above Centre- 
ville, a short distance, lie the extensive coal and iron deposits of 
the Cahaba fields, a source of immense, but as yet undeveloped 

* This, of comse, is in addition to the |40,000 heretofore appropriated, and men- 
tioned in Col. Harding's letter. 

tore. 



lOO 

wealth. Could the river be utilized in the transportation of these 
mineral treasures, they would add vastly to the resources of the 
State of Alabama. No survey of the Oahaba, above Oentreville, 
has been made, and there is, therefore, no reliable data, from 
which to estimate the cost of improving that portion of it. It 
seems practicable, however, to reach these fields by a lock 
and dam improvement of the river, from Oentreville up, at a cost 
of about $500,000. 

- COOSA RIVEK.* 

This beautiful river, whose fertile valley so attracted DeSoto in 
his famous pilgrimage through Alabama, in 1540, that, after his 
disastrous battle at Maubila, he entertained the idea of returning 
to and colonizing it, is formed by the junction of the Oostanaula 
and Etowah rivers, at B-ome, in Northwestern Georgia. Thence 
flowing in a tortuous, but generally southwest course, for about 
one hundred miles, and entering the State of Alabama over the 
eastern boundary of Cherokee county, it bends gradually to the 
south, and east of south, through or along the Alabama counties 
of Cherokee, Etowah, St. Clair, Calhoun, Talladega, Shelby, Baker, 
Coosa, and Elmore, until it reaches Wetumpka, in the last, 
whence its direction is southwest, until it joins the Tallapoosa, 
and makes the Alabama river, 334 miles below Eome. The 
waters of the Coosa are thence continued southward through the 
channels of the Alabama and Mobile rivers, 420 miles further, 
until they empty into the Bay of Mobile — making the total dis- 
tance from Rome, Georgia, to Mobile, Alabama, by the way of 
these rivers, 754 miles. The rivers that form the Coosa, or rather 
the tributaries of those rivers, rise in the basin between the 
southern extremities of the Blue Ridge, and Alleghenies, in 
Northwestern Georgia. The Oostanaula, the main tributary of 
the Coosa, is navigable and navigated by steamers of light 
draught throughout its entire length, and to a point on the Coosa- 
wattee, one of its tributaries, 100 miles above Eome. From 
Eome, southward, as far as Greensport, in St. Clair county, Ala- 
bama, a distance of 180 miles, the Coosa is navigable and naviga- 
ted by light draught steamers, carrying the United States Mail, 
and making, each, two round trips a week. From Greensport to 
Wetumpka, distant 137 miles still further to the south, the Coosa is 
entirely closed to navigation. From Wetumpka to the confluence 
of the river with the Tallapoosa, it is navigable. It will thus be 
seen, that (as the Alabama is always navigable throughout its 

* Name derived fi-om the Coosa Indians, once located on its banks. 



lOI 

ff 

length, (with the exception of the 137 miles of the Ooosa between 
Greensport and Wetumpka) there is continuous navigation, via 
the Coosawattee, Oostauaula, Coosa, Alabama, and Mobile rivers, 
from Kome, Georgia, to Mobile, Alabama, a distance of 854 
miles, and draining more than 28,000 square miles of territory in 
Georgia, and Alabama, unsurpassed in richness of soil, and min- 
eral wealth. To improve the Coosa and render it navigable 
throughout, thereby making it a most important factor in the grand 
future development of Alabama, is another of the many great 
works of internal improvement in this State, now attracting and 
receiving attention. 

Prof. Toumey, late State Geologist, treating of the Coosa, in 
his Eeport on the Geological formations of the State, said : 

The Coosa, from its rise to Greensport, in Cherokee county, flows 
along the strike of the rocks, and in. a valley between the strata: it 
meets with scarcely any obstruction, apd hence the remarkable phenom- 
enon which it presents of a river navigable for steamboats at both 
extremities, with the intermediate part an impracticable rapid. It will 
be seen, that between the places just named, the course of the river is 
northeast and southwest : at Greensport, it turns directly south, and 
consequently crosses the edge of the strata, so that where these are hard 
and indestructible, rapids occur; but where limestone strata are crossed, 
a level reach is found. This state of things continues for a distance of 
180 miles to Wetumpka, where the mica slates of the metamorphic rocks 

form the first obstruction and head of navigation. 

**** ** ** ** ** *** 

Between Wetumpka and the mouth of the Tallapoosa, the Coosa is 
a beautiful river, with high banks and deep water. At the junction, an 
acciimulation of gravel takes place, which is the result of the lessening 
suddenly of the transporting force of the two rivers, by which the ma- 
terials rolled onward by the streams are arrested in their progress, pro- 
ducing a bar and serious obstruction to navigation, which can only be 
remedied by the removal of the cause— that is, by making the streams 
to come together at a more favorable angle. The obstructions below this 
are such as are common to all our rivers below the falls, resulting from 
abrupt bends, sudden widening, submerged logs, overhanging timber, etc. 

An official survey and examination of this river, with a view 
to estimating the probable cost of its improvement, was made in 
1870,* under the direction of Maj. Walter McFarland, United 
States Engineer Corps. 

From this survey and other sources of information, the fol- 
lowing data has been obtained: The volume of water in the 
Coosa is ample, at all times, to give a channel of sufficient width 
and depth for steamers of from 150 to '300 tons burden. The 

* See printed Report of tlie U. S. Oliief of Engineers, for 1872, pp. 502-307. 



161 

river is an exceptionally favorable one for improvement, since 
its mean depth is greater in comparison with its average width 
than most of the Western rivers, and its banks and channels are 
generally well defined and permanent. Sand and gravel bars are 
seldom found, and, when found, easily removed. From Eome to 
Greenspor.t, the average width of the river is 500 feet in low water, 
and its average depth two feet, in the same water, in the most shal- 
low places. Between Rome and Greensport, there are thirteen 
shoals, some of which have been so far improved, under Con- 
gressional appropriations, as to permit the passage of steamers 
with little or no difficulty ; others, though passable by steamers, 
require more work to remove dangerous rocks, and, by excavations 
to give more directness to the channel. In some places, wing or 
spur dams are needed, to confine a greater volume of water to the 
channel, and thus deepen it. The work, already done upon this 
part of the river, has proven yery satisfactory, and it is believed 
that during the year 1878, the river will be freed entirely of ob- 
structions between Eome and Greensport, and a channel obtained 
of, at least, an average depth of from two and one-half to three 
feet, and of sufficient width, all the year. From Greensport to 
Wetumpka, the river is broken up into pools or eddies of navi- 
gable water, separated by reefs, shoals, and rapids, sometimes of 
very great extent, absolutely impassable at low water, and dan- 
gerous in the best stages by reason of the crookedness of the 
channel ways and the ragged rocks everywhere to be found along 
their borders, and in mid-stream, reaching to the surface even 
where the water is forty or fifty feet deep. The navigable water 
found between Greensport and Wetumpka is broken up into 
stretches, varying in length from 600 yards to 6 miles, and varying 
in depth from 6 to 60 feet. The intervening shoals vary from sin- 
gle reefs a few yards long in the direction of the current, and ex- 
tending from bank to bank, to long series of shoals from a 
thousand yards to 12 miles in length. These obstructions consist 
almost entirely of rock, very little gravel being found. The av- 
erage width of the river between Greensport and Wetumpka is 
from 800 to 1,000 teet. 

Major McFarland estimated the total cost of improving the 
river, so as to make it navigable between Greensport and We- 
tumpka, all the year, for vessels of three feet draught, at $2,340,- 
746.75 — seemingly formidable figures, but really insignificant, com- 
pared with the great results to follow. Besides, this estimate 
was made in 1870, eight years ago, when labor of all kinds was, 
at least, 50 per cent, higher than now. 



I03 

The general system of improvement recommended by Major 
McFarland, consists in tlie formation of slack water navigation 
over the rapids, by the construction of dams and locks, with one 
of two short stretches of canal where needed, and the removal 
from the channel ways of dangerous and inconvenient rocks. 

To improve the Coosa, Congress, in 1876, appropriated $30,- 
000, the greater portion of which has, already, been expended 
in improving the part between Eome and Greensport ; and the 
Eiver and Harbor Bill, for 1878, appropriated an additional sum 
of $75,000, to be used on the same portion of the line. 

Col. D. S. Priutup, of Eome, Georgia, an accomplished gentle- 
man, and one who has carefully and laboriously investigated the 
question of the opening of the Coosa, and the results to follow, 
in a recent address, before the House Committee on Commerce, 
said on this subject : 

The country that would be materially and beneficially aflfected by 
the proper opening of this great river line by the removal of the obstruc- 
tions between Greensport and Wetumpka, being a distance of only 137 
miles out of the 815 aud upward, now navigable, is that portion of North- 
west Georgia lying between the Lookout Mountain oii the Northwest, 
and the line of hills or mountains, embracing the gold belt, on the South- 
east, traversed by the valleys of the Chattooga, Conasauga, Coosawattee, 
Oostauaula and Etowah rivers, and Big Cedar Creek, and their tributaries, 
all whose waters help to form the Coosa, embracing a population of over 
175,000, aud an area of at least 6,000 square miles, or 3,840,000 acres of 
land, which for its productiveness of soil and mineral resources is unsur- 
passed by any other region of the same extent in the United States ; pro- 
ducing cotton of the finest grade for uplands, as well as the cereals, to- 
bacco, and all kinds of fruits. For the production of the latter, the hills 
and mountains seem peculiarly adapted. Being also rich in coal, iron, 
manganese, barytese, and other minerals. 

That portion of Northeast Alabama that would be more or less, 
greatly benefitted by the improvement of the Coosa river as suggested, 
is bordered by Raccoon mountain on the Northwest, and the range of 
hiils or low mountains running parallel with, and distant from the line 
of the river about 35 miles, on the Southeast ; having a general direction 
from the Northeast to the Southwest and in Alabama, containing a pop- 
ulation of about 100,000 upon an area of about 7,000 square miles or 
4,480,000 acres of laud ; not taking into this account any portion of the 
country on either side of the line, traversed by the lower half, or near 
400 miles of the river. This section of Alabama is, in richness of soil 
and mineral wealth, equal to that in Northwest Georgia; partaking 
much of the same nature, besides having extensive and inexhaustible 
fields of bituminous coal, from two to ten feet thick, of the very finest 
quality, and suited to all purposes of manufacturing iron, driving ma- 
chinery, aud other uses to which this coal is applicable. The coal 
.fields traverse the whole area in Alabama above described and are imme- 



t04 

diately by the side of extensive beds of iron ore of several varieties and 
finest qualities, which traverse the same area of country with the coal 
fields. Sandstone, limestone, fireclay, and other minerals, abound in 
quantities sufficient to supply all future ages. 

From a statistical calculation, it is shown that the annual products of 
these portions of the States of Georgia and Alabama, embraced in the area 
of country above described, which would be beneficially aflfected by the 
improvement of the Coosa river, are over 2,125,000 bushels of wheat, 
3,500,000 bushels of corn, 250,000 bushels of oats, and over 100,000 bales of 
cotton; besides live-stock, fruits of various varieties, and other products of 
the farm, in value equaling over $10,000,000. This is not taking into con- 
sideration, the products of the mines, such as iron and coal, etc., nor the 
manufactured articles annually produced, which are very large and ex- 
tensive. 

The annual saving to the people along the line of river in having 
cheap transportation for their surplus products would, naturally, enhance 
the wealth and prosperity of the country. For want of this great thor- 
oughfare, millions of dollars worth of the best long leaf pine, a great 
variety of oak, ash, walnut, cedar, cypress, and poplar, which could be 
turned into the best lumber, are now reduced to ashes or rot upon the 
ground. Of the lands along the line of this river, the United States 
owns millions of acres, in the shape of public lands. The manufacturing 
interests would, in like manner, be fostered and made prosperous. 

The Chief Engineer of the Selma, Eome, and Dalton Eailroad, 
in his report for 1870, incorporated in the report of the United 
States Chief of Engineers for 1872, treating of the improvement 
of the Coosa, says : 

The wonder is, that this work has not been accomplished a long time 
ago. Indeed, what channel of transportation is better calculated to 
spread all around, industry, prosperity, and wealth. 

The Eeport of this Engineer continues : 

Capital and cheap transportation, only, are wanted to make this sec- 
tion of the country an immense workshop, capable of giving employ- 
ment to thousands of mechanics and workmen, and turning out every 
year millions of dollars worth of products of all descriptions. 

On the immediate banks of the river, are found heavy and inex- 
haustible beds of iron ore and all the material necessary for its manufac- 
, ture— coal, limestone, and fire-proof stone, in the greatest abundance. 

Judging from the experience of every, country under similar circum- 
stances, what an immense economical revolution this new channel of 
communication (with through transportation once opened) must pro- 
duce in the country at large, and, particularly, in the States of Georgia 
and Alabama, and those immediately contiguous thereto. 

The climate of the Coosa valley is salubrious, mild, and temperate ; 
ita winters of short duration ; its soil rich and productive ; besides the 
staples, everything in abundance, which is necessary to make living 
cheap for workman, laborer, and mechanic. 

This great valley is intersected by a large number of streams which 



S05 . ^ 

bever freeze, and on them are a multitude of sites for mills, and factories j 
with inexhaustible water power, and are destined one day to be the 
customers and feeders of this great channel. 

The Eeport goes on to say : 

It is almost impossible to estimate the increase in the value of these 
lands, which will be the natural and immediate result of opening the 
river to navigation. It is fair to suppose, however, that the increase will 
be many times greater than the amount necessary to pay for all the re- 
quired improvements. • 

Prof. Tourney said of the Coosa, in this connection : 
The navigation of a river, passing through such a country as that 
through which the Coosa passes, appears to me so important a matter in 
connection with the prosperity of the State, that its improvement should 
enter into any scheme of internal improvement devised for its best in- 
terests. 

The removal of the obstructions between Greensport and 
Wetumpka, would permit steamers, from Mobile, to ascend reg- 
ularly, via the Mobile, Alabama, and Coosa rivers, to Eome, 
Georgia, a distance of 734 miles ; while the Oostanaula and its 
tributary, the Goosawattee, would afford them still further navi- 
gation for a distance of 100 miles above Eome; thus placing an 
immense area in Alabama and Georgia in immediate communica- 
tion with the Gulf of Mexico^ and opening up water communica- 
tion with the extensive coal fields and iron beds of the Coosa 
valley, 

TENNESSEE EIVEB. * f 

This river rises in the southwestern part of the State of Vir- 
ginia, and flows southwesterly, in a general direction, 280 mUes, 
to Knoxville, Tennessee; thence, in the same general direc- 
tion, 60 miles, to Loudon, Tennessee. At this point, it turns at 
right angles and flows northwesterly, cutting through several 
subordinate ridges, 24 miles, to Kingston, Tennessee, where it 
unites with the Clinch river, one of its principal tributaries. At 
Kingston, the river turns abruptly and runs southwesterly, 110 
miles, to the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Here, it makes an- 
other abrupt turn and flows 19 miles, northwesterly, through the 
eastern arm of the Cumberland Mountains,^ to the Boiling Pot^ 

* Tennessee is said to be an Indian word, meaning Oreat Bendr-not an inappropriate 
name for the river bearing it. 

t The description of the Tennesse river is taken almost literally fi-om the admii-ably 
drawn Memorial on behalf of the removal of the Muscle Shoals Obstructions, presented 
for the information of the Government of the United States, by the Commercial Con- 
vention held at Chattanooga, Tennessee, Decembers, 1877— the author having done 
little more thau adapt it to tlie recLuii-emeuts of this manual. 



io6 

formerly an obstruction, but now removed. At this point, the 
river makes a sharp deflection and flows in a tortuous south- 
westerly direction, 41 miles, to Bridgeport, Alabama ; thence, in 
a uniform southwesterly course, curving slightly to the westward, 
74 miles, to Guntersville, Alabama. Here, it turns at right angles 
and flows northwesterly, gently curving to the northward, 51 
miles, to Decatur, Alabama; thence, in the same course, 10 miles, 
to Brown's Ferry, the head of the Muscle Shoals group of ob- 
structions ; thence, in the same general direction, 38 miles, to the 
foot of Muscle Shoals, one mile above Florence, Alabama ; thence, 
34 miles, to Waterloo, Alabama. Here, the river turns gradually 
and flows northerly, 296 miles, and empties into the Ohio, at Pa- 
ducah, Kentucky ; making a total distance from source to mouth, 
of 1,037 miles.* 

The annual volume of water in the Tennessee is equal to 
that of the Ohio ; and its average width from KnoxvUle to Padu- 
cah, is 500 yards. Its average depth is fully three feet from 
Knoxville to the head of Muscle Shoals, for nine months annu- 
ally;" and its average depth from Florence to Paducah is fully 
three feet, the year round. Its banks are high and permanent, 
and its channel stable and unchangeable. For nearly three- 
fourths of its length, it flows through silurian and carboniferous 
formations, therefore, sand and gravel bars are very rarely found. 
The boatmen who learned its channel forty years ago, have 
learned nothing new, since. In consideration of these general 
characteristics, length, width, depth, volume, permanence of chan- 
nel, and number of miles of natural navigation, the Tennessee 
ranks sixth in magnitude among the rivers of the I^orth Ameri- 
can continent. It was adopted, in 1874, by the Senat? Committee 
on Transportation, from Paducah to Guntersville, as one of the 
great water lines of the country. It flows through five great 
States, and binds together all by the ligaments of commerce; and 
the work of its improvement, therefore, can be no less national 
in character, tl\an that which guards against national foes. 

From Paducah to Florence, there is no serious impediment to 
navigation, as steamboats, of from four t© five feet draught, are 
plying regularly between these points, the year round. From the 
Head of Muscle Shoals, steamboats of three feet draught are nav- 
igating to Knoxville nearly the entire year. Navigation is not, 
however, restricted above Knoxville. For five months in the 
year, boats of light draught ascend 125 miles above Knoxville on 
the Upper Tennessee, 55 miles up the Little Tennessee, 150 miles 

__— — - — . — ■ , H 

* The anomalous course of tlxe Tenuessee cannot fail to be lemarkea. 



107 

up the Clinch, 40 miles up the Hiwassee, 75 miles up the French 
Broad, and 50 mUes up Powels river, making 395 miles of tribu- 
tary navigation. 

Between Brown's Ferry, 10 miles below Decatur, and Florence, 
a distance of 38 miles, is a group of impediments to navigation, 
commonly known as the Muscle Shoals, consisting of Elk Eiver, 
Big Muscle, and Little Muscle Shoals, separated by deep interval 
pools of navigable water. This section of the river is underlaid 
by very hard siliceous rocks. This quality has enabled them 
to resist the abrasion of the water, and has compelled the river 
to expand suddenly from 1,500 feet to one, two, and three miles 
in width, to accommodate its maximum flow. Over these ob- 
structions, navigation is absolutely impracticable, except in 
seasons of flood, and then only for a few days in the year. Hence, 
there is no outlet, by an union of northern and western rivers, 
for the commerce on these upper 1,004 miles of natural naviga- 
tion, upon streams whose drainage area is equal to 54,000 square 
miles ; and what should have, long since, been one of the main 
commercial highways is still throttled at Muscle Shoals. 

These shoals consist of three parts, separated by intervals of 
navigable water, as follows, beginning at Florence : 

Little Muscle Shoals, 5 miles long, and fall of 23 feet. 

One and one-half miles of deep water at Bainbridge Ferry. 

Big Muscle Shoals. 14^ miles long, and 84.6 feet fall. 

Five miles of deep water at Lamb's Ferry. 

Elk River Shoals, about 9 miles long, and a fall of 26 feet. 

The remainder of the distance to Brown's Ferry, and in fact 
from thence to Chattanooga, and Knoxville, a distance of 350 
miles, is now navigable by steamers, although certain improve- 
ments are contemplated at different points along this part of the 
river, to give still better navigation. 

The Tennessee Eiver, especially the section crossing Mus- 
cle Shoals, has been repeatedly and carefully surveyed, with a 
view to its improvement, under authority of Congress, by Boards 
of United States Engineers, in 1828, 1830, and 1831 ; by Col. S. 
H. Long, United States Topographical Engineer, in 1830 ; by Col. 
James Kearney, United States Engineer, in 1835 ; by Col. Wm. B. 
Gaw, Civil Engineer, under the direction of Brevet Major-Gen- 
eral G. Weitzel, Major United States Engineers, in 1867. The es- 
timates of th3 Engineers for overcoming the Muscle Shoals ob- 
structions, vary from $1,500,000 in the early reports, to $3,944,967 
in Gaw's report to Weitzel, which contemplated more extensive 
improvements, better adapted to the increased developments of 



the country, than the former estimates. Walter McFarland, Ma- 
jor of United States Engineers, in charge of the Tennessee Eiver 
improvement in 1872, made a careful survey of the Muscle Shoals 
group of obstructions, and arrived at a conclusion, as follows : 
"The scheme proposed by the Board of Internal Improvements, 
1831, cannot be improved upon, for the passage of the Muscle 
Shoals ; and the work now remaining to be done, in order to carry 
it out, is to put the old canal in good condition, to construct the 
canals around Elk Eiver Shoals and Little Muscle Shoals, together 
with the basins proposed for connecting them with the South 
shore." He estimates the entire cost to be from $2,128,500 to 
$3,676,000, according to the width and depth of the canal and 
width and length of the lock chambers. The latter amount is the 
estimate for the trunk of a canal lOO feet wide at the surface, 6 
feet deep, and locks 60 feet wide, by 300 feet between the mitre 
sills. 

The improvement consists in enlarging and repairing the old 
canal, which was built about forty years ago, and which failed 
and fell into disuse, because it could not be approached in low 
water from either direction, on account of • Elk E-iver Shoals 
above, and Little Muscle Shoals below. The present plan of 
improvement, includes the improvement of these shoals, as well 
as Big Muscle Shoals, the latter being the only portion of work 
in progress at present, except at Colbert and Little Muscle Shoals. 

The present condition of the work at Muscle Shoals is as fol- 
lows : At Little Muscle Shoals, work has been commenced 
looking to the improvement of this part of the obstruction, by 
excavating the reefs, and building spur dams at certain points, to 
check the velocity of the current, and give the necessary depth 
of water at all points. A temporary dam, 1,400 feet long, has 
been built across the head of the north chute, to keep the water 
out whUe the work is going on. After the excavation is com- 
pleted, this dam wUl be removed and a permanent stone dam will 
be built across the south chute, to throw as much water into the 
new channel as may be required. 

The length of time required to complete this part o^ the im- 
provement will necessarily depend very much upon the stage of 
water during the working season ; but with average good luck in 
this respect, it is expected that one year's work will give a good 
depth of channel, and that two, or at most three, years will finish 
all the dams and make the imxjrovement complete and permanent. 

At Big Muscle Shoals, the work consists in rebuilding and 
enlarging the old canal, built more than 40 years ago, by the State 



I09 

of Alabama, from the proceeds of the sale of public lands do- 
nated for the purpose by the General Government. This canal 
was from 60 to 70 feet wide, with 17 locks, 32 feet wide and 118 
feet long, with an average lift of 5 feet. The new canal will have 
only 10 locks. They will be 60 feet wide, and 300 feet long in the 
chamber. Eight of these locks are under contract. Two of 
them are nearly completed and a third is about half done. The 
contractor for the other five is just commencing work. The 
locks are all to be founded upon the rock, and to be made of 
heavy blocks of cut stone and rubble, laid in hydraulic cement. 
The canal trunk is to be from 70 to 100 feet wide at the water 
line, and 6 feet deep, excepting at extreme low water. About 
seven and one-half miles of the canal have been enlarged and 
completed, leaving seven miles yet to be done. 

At Elk EiVER Shoals no work has been done, but a recent 
survey, made with a view to locating the works required for this 
improvement, indicates that a very great saving of expense can 
be effected by taking the south side of the river, utilizing certain 
natural channels and at the same time avoiding a troublesome 
crossing of Elk Eiver. 

The estimate for improving Muscle Shoals, as submitted by 
Major Walter McFarland, in his report for 1873, was $4,003,000 5 
of which amount there has been appropriated at various times, 
$1,035,000, but of this latter sum about $454,000 have been ex- 
pended upon Muscle Shoals, and $260,000 at other points on the 
river, leaving a balance of $321,000 to pay for work under exist- 
ing contracts. The sum still to be appropriated is, therefore, 
$2,968,000, of which, the Eiver and Harbor BUI, for 1878, appro- 
priated $300,000. 

It is estimated, that not more than two-thirds of the unappro- 
priated balance will really be required, in consequence of reduc- 
tions already made and to be made.* 

As to the time yet needed to complete the improvements. 
Major King says : "There is every reason to believe that the 
work can be completed within about three years from the time 
adequate appropriations are available." 

The territory whose natural outlet to the commerce of the 

* Major King, the United States Engineer Officer at present in charge of this work, 
says, he is very sure a saving of at least $1,000,000 can be realized on the older esti- 
mates, -without slighting the work, though considerahle of siich saving would be the 
effect of lower prices for laijor and material than when the first estimates were sub- 
mitted. Major King's opinion that the gi-oss estimate for the work at the shoalg was 
too large is important to be observed, as he is the officer under whose charge most of 
the money has been expended in that locality, and he has already made large savings 
by modifying the old plans in some instances and abandoning them in others. ' 



no 

country is cut off by the obstructions at Muscle Shoals, comprises 
some 56,000 square miles, embracing North Alabama, part of Mid- 
dle Tennessee, all of East Tennessee, and portions of Georgia, 
Virginia, and North Carolina. The soil, for the most part, is rich 
and productive, and the staple agricultural products are cotton, 
and the cereals. 

The lands in the Tennessee Valley, particularly those in Ala- 
bama, are capable of producing in great abundance, but they are 
not worked to their best advantage, on account of the lack of 
transportation to market, which the improvement at the Muscle 
Shoals would supply. 

The Valley is well timbered with white, red, and post, oak, ash, " 
hickory, locust, birch, cherry, gum, black walnut, maple, red cedar, 
holly, beech, white and yellow poplar, yellow and long leaf pine, 
and several other kinds, of not much value. 

In the Valley of the Tennessee river, especially in Alabama, 
iron, coal, and other minerals, are found in immeasurable quantity, 
only awaiting development by the proper improvement of the 
river, to add their stores to the general wealth. The coal fields 
of Alabama cover an area of over 5,000 square miles, and it is es- 
timated that at least one-third of this area would find an outlet for 
the products of its mines by the Tennessee river, if improved. 
This coal is all bituminous, and of a fine quality, and with an open 
river the lower cities on the Mississippi would never suffer from 
a deficient supply, as is now often the case, for the Tennessee 
river never freezes up. 

Marble, roofing slate, building stone, lead, copper, etc., are to 
be found in large. quantities all along the valley of the Tennessee, 
as yet comparatively undeveloped, for the want of cheap transpor- 
tation. 

Here, too, most favorable locations are to be found for the 
erection of furnaces, and other manufactories. The climate of 
this Valley in Northern Alabama is admirably adapted to all kinds 
of industrial pursuits. In fact, it is said to be the most equable 
and pleasant in the whole South, and so genial that wheat is ripe 
for the harvest by the time the green blades in the North- Western 
States emerge from the snow. Along that portion of the Ten- 
nessee which flows through Alabama, no particle of ice is ever 
seen upon its bosom. Here, stock (and it is a very fine stock 
raising country) can graze all winter, thus saving the farmer the 
cost and labor of providing for it; while the rigors of a North- 
Western winter compel him to house and feed his stock for six 
months out of the twelve. Here, there is hardly a day in the year 



Ill 

when the farmer cannot till his ground, while the Korth- Western 
farmer has only six months in the year to work his land and pro- 
vide for the six bleak and inhospitable winter months, when all 
out door labor is suspended. Here, too, the Malaga grape, the 
fig, and the pomegranate flourish in the open air — a climate with- 
out the rigorous winter of the North, or the feverish summers of 
the extreme South : a land with every educational and social ad- 
vantage ; wise and humane, but impartially enforced laws ; fertile 
soil ; pure air ; and abundant water ; inviting and awaiting imigra- 
gration — offering happy homes to the millions who may come to 
seek them. 

THE CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER.* 

Strictly speaking, this is a Georgia river, as, for more than 
one hundred miles, its western bank marks the eastern boundary 
of Alabama; but, being of considerable importance, commer- 
cially and otherwise, to several of the counties of the South- 
eastern portion of this State, it, not improperly, deserves some 
mention here. 

The Ohattahoochee has its rise in Northwestern Georgia, and 
flowing southwai dly, along the eastern line of the Alabama coun- 
ties of Chambers, Lee, Eussell, Barbour, and Henry, crosses the 
Florida line and empties into Appalachicola river ; whence its 
waters are conducted, through the channel of that stream, into 
Appalachicola Bay. It is navigable, for steamboats of moderate 
draught, to Girard, in Eussell county, Alabama, opposite the city 
of Columbus, Georgia; at which latter place, its fine water power 
is utilized by many large cotton mills, and other manufacturing 
establishments. Above Girard, its ascent is obstructed by im. 
passable rapids. 

A large portion of the country along the Chattahoochee, is 
very fine — possessing a mild climate, and offering superior in- 
ducements to immigrants, seeking locations for agricultural and 
manufacturing purposes. From Bainbridge, Georgia, down, 
exist immense, and almost inexhaustible forests of beautiful pine, 
cypress, and cedar, in their virgin state, awaiting the axe and 
saw. Fine cotton and corn lands, also, lie along this river. 

A survey of the Chattahoochee, below Columbus, Georgia, 
with a view to its improvement, was made, under authority of 

* The word Chattahoochee means Bedstone, and is derived from two Creek word^, 
Charia, a atone, and Uchee, red. So called from the bright -colored stones, paving its 
bed. 



1? 



112 

^ Congress, in 1871,* from which, it was estimated, that the sum of 
$464,000 would give unobstructed navigation throughout the 
river, from Columbus, to its mouth, at Appalachicola, at all 
stages of water, and insure the efficacy, and permanence, of the 
improvement. Of this amount, about $90,000 have been appro- 
priated and expended on the work, giving very favorable results. 
In addition to this sum, the Eiver and Harbor Bill for 1878, ap- 
propriated $10,000, for the improvement of the Chattahoochee. 
The obstructions consist of shoals, rapids, bars, snags, overhang- 
ing timber, sunken wrecks, etc. 

THE CHOCTAWHATOHEE, ESCAMBIA, AND SIPSEY RIVERS. 

The Ohoctawhatchee is a small river, emptying into Choc- 
tawatchee Bay, Florida, and navigable for steamers as high as 
Geneva, in Geneva county, Alabama. This river has been sur- 
veyed, under authority of Congress, and the cost of its improve- 
ment estimated at $34,332. Of this amount, $15,000 were ap- 
propriated and expended prior to 1878, and the Eiver and Harbor 
Bill for 1878, appropriated an additional sum of $10,000 for the 
improvement of the Ohoctawhatchee. 

The Escambia, of which the Conecuh is the upper prolonga- 
tion, rises somewhere in Bullock county, Ala., and empties into 
Pensacola Bay. It is not, at present, navigable, but Congress, at 
its last session (1877-78), directed the Secretary of War to cause 
to be made surveys, and estimates of the cost of its improve- 
ment — so, also, of its tributaries, the Conecuh and Patsaliga. 

The Sipsey is a tributary of the Little Tombigbee, into which 
it empties at Vienna, in Pickens County, Ala. It takes its rise 
north of Fayette Court-house, Fayette County, .Ala., at a point 
distant nearly two hundred miles, following the meanderings of 
the stream, from its mouth. This river has never been surveyed, 
nor have any steps been taken tending to its improvement, by 
the General Government, and it is not navigable, at all, for steam- 
boats; and, for keel-boats of any kind, only a short distance. 
Private enterprise on the part of those living near, has accom- 
plished something in the way of opening the river to navigation, 
for light draught steamers to Fayette Court-house, but much re- 
mains to be done. It is estimated that, upon being opened, 10,- 
000 bales of cotton would annually seek a market in Mobile, over 
its waters. 
, It flows through a country well adapted to agriculture, and 

* See Rep. U. S. Oh. Eng. (1872), pp. 63-64, and Appendix to same, pp. 584 and 
623. 



"3 

rich in stone, timber, and coal, only waiting- development and a 
market. Earges, laden witli coal, frequently come out of the Sip- 
sey during high water, and are floated to Mobile. 

PEOJECTED CANALS OF ALABAMA. 

GUNTEBSVILLE AND GADSDEN CANAL. 

The town of Guntersville is located in Marshall county, Ala- 
bama, on the left bank of the Tennessee river ; while the town of 
Gadsden is in Etowah county, Alabama, on the right bank of the 
Coosa river. It is proposed to connect these two points, and the 
waters of their respective rivers, by a canal, to be. known as the 
Guntersville and Gadsden Canal. A survey to this end was 
made, under authority of Congress, in 1871 *, which resulted in 
an estimate of $9,518,467.00, as the cost of such an improvement. 
The canal, upon which these figures are based, is to be 50J miles 
long, 56 feet wide at bottom, 70 feet wide at top-water, 5 feet least 
depth of water, 2 tow paths 8 feet wide on top, 2 feet above water 
surface, and locks 120 feet long between gates, and 30 feet wide. 
No work has ever been done on this canal, beyond the survey 
mentioned. 

SQUAW SHOALS CANAL. 

Squaw Shoals are in the Black Warrior river, about 25 miles 
above the city of Tuskaloosa, and it is proposed to build a canal 
around them, of 3^ miles in length, to reach the immense mineral 
deposits of the Warrior coal and iron fields. The estimated cost 
of such an improvement, is $175,000. To render such a canal 
effective, however, it will be necessary to improve the Warrior 
both below and above the Shoals, and the estimate for this work, 
based on official surveys, is : 

Cost of improving the Warrior from Tuskaloosa to Muscle 

Shoals -. $192,000 

Cost of improving same from the Shoals to Mulberry Fork 64,000 

Total $256,000 

To which add cost of Muscle Shoals Canal 175,000 

And we have, as a total for the entire amount,. $431,000 

No work has been done on this canal, beyond the suB^vey. 

THE TENNESSEE AND TOMBIGBEE RIVEES CANAL. 

Several years ago. Congress authorized a survey to ascertain 
the feasibility of connecting the waters of the Tennessee and 
Little Topibigbee rivers, by a canal, via. Big Bear Creek. The 
report was unfavorable, making the cost of such a canal $1,705,- 
312 ; and that even this amount, would give a navigable water 
way for not more than four or five month of the year. No work 
has been done on this canal, beyond the survey.f 

* See Keport United States Chief Engineer, (1872) p. 60, and Appendix thereto, p. 
620. 

t For an account of Muscle Shoala Canal see ante. pp. 105-111, Tennessee River. 



Part Eighth. 



Tlie Railroads of Alabama; and the Postal, Telegraph, and Ex- 
press Facilities of the State. 



THE RAILEOADS OE ALABAMA. 

Besides the great rivers, and other natural means of commu- 
nication mention d in part seventh, Alabama has Twenty-four 
Railroads, entering or traversing her territory, with a total 
length of Completed Main Line, of Eighteen Hundred and 
Nineteen miles, as follows : 

Name. Miles Com. Main Line in Ala. 

Alabama Central *...........„. 81 ^ 

Alabama Great Southern f..... 244 % ^ 

East Alabama and Cincinnati 22 

Memphis and Charleston.... ...156 

Mississippi, Gainesville, and Tuskaloosa §...... 14 

Mobile and Alabama Grand Trunk... 59 

Mobile and Girard..... 85 

Mobile and Ohio,. 60 

Mobile and Montgomery , 180 

Montgomery and Eufaula 80 

Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis 24 

Nashville and Decatur...... 26 

New Orleans and Mobile , 41 

New Orleans and Selma 21 

Pensacola ||... — 

Savannah and Memphis. 60 

Selmaand Gulf 40 

Selma, Marion, and Memphis 60 

Belma, Kome, and Dalton 171 

k-^outh and North Alabama.... .182 

Southwestern ^ — 

Tuskegee...... 5 

Vicksburg and Brunswick , 21 

Western of Alabama .•187—1819 miles 

Of this number, about one thousand miles have been con- 
structed since the close of the war, in 1865. 

When all the railroads, within her borders, are fully completed, 

* Formerly, Selma and Meridian. 

t Formerly, Alabama and Chattanooga, or, Stanton Road. 

X Fractions of all the roads omitted. 

§ Known as tlie Oainesville Branch, of the Mobile and Ohio. 

II This is a Florida Railroad, connecting Pensacola, Florida, with Pensacola Junc- 
tion, in Alabama, on the Mobile and Montgomery Railroad. Only one-tenth of a mile 
of the road's length, lies in Alabama— in Escambia county. 

IT This Is the Southwestern of Georgia, with its principal Terminus at Columbus, 
Georgia, and havingjlmt four-fifths of a mUe in Alabama— In Barbour county. 



^ "5 

as originally projected, the State will have a total length of main 

line of, about, Twenty-Eight Hundred and Fifty Miles. 

The estimated value of the railroad property in Alabama, as 

assessed for State taxation in 1877, was : 

Maiu Track $ 8,952,221.47 

Side Track 266,090.54 

Rolling Stock 1,309,748.42 

Total $10,528,060.43* 

Which, at seven-tenths of one per cent., the present rate, yields 
an ad valorem^ yearly, revenue to the State of $73,696.42 — or 
nearly one-eleventh of the amount required annually to meet the 
current expenditures of the State Government, and pay interest 
on the State debt.f 

Treating of these roads, in the alphabetical order in which 
they have been mentioned above, the first is ; 

The Alabama Central Eailroad. This was, originally, the 
Alabama a^id Mississippi, and, afterwards, the Selma and Meridian 
Eailroad. It connects Selma, Alabama, with Meridian, Mississippi 
—a distance of 108 miles. Its own track extends, only, from Sel- 
ma to York, in Sumpter county, Alabama, where it connects with 
the Alabama Great Southern Eailroad. Thence to Meridian, a 
distance of 27 miles, its trains, at present, pass over the latter 
line; but the Alabama Central has, now, under construction, and 
to be completed in October, 1878, an extension of its own from 
York to Lauderdale, a station on the Mobile and Ohio Eailroad, 
in Mississippi — distant 14 miles. When completed, its trains will 
use the track of the Mobile and Ohio Eailroad from Lauderdale 
to Meridian, distant 18 miles, under a contract for 25 years. 

Geologically, the line of the Alabama Central, in Alabama, 
passes through the cretaceous formation ; and the soil along it, 
west of Selma, and to Demopolis, consists of rich black prairie. 
From Demopolis to York, the soil is prairie, interspersed with 
sandy. Some of the finest cotton and corn producing lands, of 
the State, are traversed by this road ; and it passes, for many 
miles, through the fertile Cane-brake region of Perry and Maren- 
go counties, in Alabama. Its line is generally straight, with few 
grades, and light curves. Its total length lies in Alabama — Selma 
being the eastern, and York the western terminus. Its connec- 
tions are, at Selma^ with the Selma, Eome and Dalton, Selma and 
Gulf, Western of Alabama, New Orleans and Selma, and Selma, 

*It is but fail- to add, that these figures do not represent one-third of the actual cost 
of this property. 

t The disbursements on these accounts, for the fiscal year ending 30th September, 
1878. are estimated, by the State Auditor, at $852,752,60. Sfe his Report for 1877, 
Exhibit I. > ->■ , -^ 



ii6 

Marion, and Memphis Eailroads, and the Steamers of the Alabama 
river ; at Marion Junction^ with the Marion Branch Eailroad, to 
Marion, Alabama; at Uniontown, with the Mobile and Alabama 
Grand Trunk Eailroad ;* at BemopoUs, with the Steamers of the 
Tombigbee, Little Tombigbee, and Black Warrior rivers ; at Yoric, 
with the Alabama Great Southern Eailroad. 

The General Offi'ces of the Alabama Central are located at Sel- 
ma. It is in first-class running order, fully equipped, and in ac- 
tive operation, with through daily freight, and passenger, trains, 
each way. The road was completed, and in operation, from Selma 
to Uniontown prior to 1860 ; but the part between Uniontown 
and York was constructed during the war.f 

The Alabama Great Southern Railroad. This was, 
originally, the Northeast and Southwest Alabama Eailroad, out 
of which grew the Alabama and Chattanooya Eailroad, by Act of 
the General Assembly of Alabama, approved October 6, 1866. 
In 1877, its bondholders, most of whom were English, were put 
into possession by compromise with the State, and re-organized 
the road, giving it the name it bears at present. 

It runs, diagonally, across the State, from northeast to south- 
west, and connects Chattanooga, Tenn., with Meridian, Miss., a 
distance of 295 miles ; of which, 244 lie within Alabama. From 
the Mississippi State line to York, and for a short distance north 
of Eutaw, the geological formation is the Cretaceous ; thence, to 
Tuscaloosa, the line passes through the Post-Tertiary. A short 
distance above Tuscaloosa, it penetrates the great Warrior coal 
basin. Skirting this, it proceeds to Birmingham, where begin 
the rich iron deposits of the State. Thence, north, to the State 
line, it runs through a region abounding in coal, iron, and other 
valuable economic materials. From Tuscaloosa, north, the road 
passes almost entirely through a succession of valleys. Its max- 
imum grade is 52 feet a mile, and its maximum curvature 3"^. 
Some of the soils along the line of this road, notably in the War- 
rior bottom between the Warrior river and Tuscaloosa, and in 
the valleys north of Tuscaloosa, are very fertile, and produce 
largely of cotton, corn, wheat, and other grains. The Alabama 
Great Southern traverses what is known as The Hill Country of 
Alabama — probably the healthiest and best adapted to immigra- 
tion and colonization in the United States ; where happy homes 
await the millions of toiling subjects, apprenticed to the spindles 
of the Old and New Wojlds.| 

* When completed, 

t For Stations and Distances on this road, see Appendix. 

\ A valuable pamphlet, entitled, The Hill Country of Alabama, fully descriptive of 
the country lying along the upper portion of this road, has just been published, un- 
der the auspices of thj^ Railroad Company. Price one shilling. 



"7 

The portion of this road between Meridian and York, was 
completed and in operation prior to the war, and a large amount 
of grading done on other parts of the line ; but the great body of 
the work has been done since 1866, and the last spike was driven 
May 15, 1871, at a point ten and three-quarter miles south of Tus- 
caloosa. 

The road has, still, a large number of acres of fine agricultural 
and mineral lands for sale, at prices within the means of all. Its 
General Land Office is at Birmingham, Alabama. Its General 
Offices are at Chattanooga. 

The road has been embarrassed very greatly since its comple- 
tion, by vexatious litigation, but, happily, it has, at last, gotten 
out of the vortex of the courts, and is now being put in first-class 
order, and thoroughly equipped, when it will be one of the most 
useful roads in the State. It is in active operation, with daily 
through freight and passenger trains, each way. Its Connections 
are, at Chattanooga, with the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. 
Louis, the Western and Atlantic, the Bast Tennessee, Virginia, 
and Georgia, Railroads, and the Steamers of the Tennessee river; 
at Attala, with the Gadsden Branch Railroad ; at Birmingham^ 
with the South and North Alabama Railroad ; at Tuscaloosa, with 
the Steamers of the Black Warrior river ; at York, with the Ala- 
bama Central Railroad; at Meridian, with the Mobile and Ohio, 
and Yicksburg and Meridian Railroads.* 

The East Alabama and Cincinnati Railroad. This is one 
of the uncompleted railroads of the State. It is projected to con- 
nect Opelika, in Lee County, Alabama, with Guntersville, in 
Marshall county, Alabama, on the Tennessee river. ,It is com- 
pleted and in active operation, with daily trains, from Opelika to 
Buffalo, in Chambers county, Alabama, a distance of 22 miles. 
All the work on this road has been done since the war. The 
East Alabama and Cincinnati, when fully completed, will run 
through the Metamorphic region of the State, until it reaches 
Calhoun county, where it will enter and cross, diagonally, the 
great Coosa coal and iron beds. Thence it will continue through 
rich mineral lands to Guntersville, its northern terminus. The 
General Offices of this road, are at Opelika, Alabama. Its Connec- 
tions are, at O^eliTca, with the Western Railroad of Alabama, and 
its Columbus Branch, and the Savannah and Memphis Railroad, t 

The Memphis and Charleston Railroad. This is a link 
in the extensive chain of railroads connecting Memphis, Tennes- 

* For Stations and Distances on tlais road, see AppeSdix. 
t For Stations and Distances on this road, see Appendix. 



ii8 

see, with Charleston, Bouth Carolina. The portion of this road 
between Tuscumbia and Decatur, was the first constructed in 
Alabama — 1832-33. The Memphis and Charleston Railroad spans 
the State from east to west, and runs through the famous, and 
fertile valley of the Tennessee river, in Alabama, embracing 
some of the finest farming, and grazing lands in the State. Geo- 
logically the line, in Alabama, passes through the mountain lime- 
stone district. Of its total length of 310 * miles, 156 lie in Ala- 
bama. It has only one Alabama branch — that connecting 
Florence with Tuscumbia, f and known as the Florence Branch. 
Its Connections, in Alabama, are, at Tuscumbia, with the Florence 
Branch; at Decatur^ with the Louisville and Great Southern 
Railroad, | and Steamers of the Tennessee river ; at Stevenson^ 
with the Nashville, Chattauooga, and St. Louis Railroad. The 
Memphis and Chattanooga Railroad is fully equipped and in 
active operation, with daily through freight and passenger trains 
each way. General Of&ces, Memphis, Tennessee. § 

The Mississippi, Gainesville, and Tuscaloosa Railroad. 
This is what is known as the Gainesville Branch of the Mobile and 
Ohio Railroad. It was projected to connect Karkeeta, a station 
on the latter road, in Mississippi, with Tuscaloosa, in Alabama ; 
but is completed and in active operation, with daily trains, from 
Narkeeta to Gainesville, in Sumter county, Alabama, only, a dis- 
tance of 21 miles. Its entire length, in Alabama, is in Sumter 
county, through which, it runs in a diagonal direction, from West 
to East ; affording the people of that section, short, but reliable, 
means of communication with the rest of the country. || 

The Mobile and Alabama Grand Trunk Railroad. This 
is another of the uncompleted roads of the State ; but destined, 
when fully completed, to be one of the most important and valu- 
able in Alabama. It was projected to extend from Mobile to Bir- 
mingham, Ala., and so connect the Gulf of Mexico with the min- 
eral regions of this State, by the shortest line and lowest grades, 
thus making Mobile the great coaling station for the steam marine 
of the Gulf. Another object of its projectors, was to form a link 
of the shortest possible railway line between JSTew York and New 
Orleans, -and, in addition, open up a fertile section of Alabama to 

*Tliis is the distance between Memphis and Chattanooga. 

t The distance between these two points is 5 miles. 

t This line extends from Montgomery, Alabama, to Lonisville, Kentucky, and is 
made up of tlie Louisville and Nashville, Nashville and Decatur, and South and North 
AlabamaEailroads— all consolidated \inder one management, and operated under the 
name of the Louisville and Gj-eat Southern Eailroad. 

§ For Stations and Distances on this road, see appendix. 

II For stations and Distances on this road, see appendix. 



it9 

the commerce of Mobile. The Mobile and Alabama Grand Trunk 
Eailroad was incorporated by an act of the General Assembly of 
Alabama, approved February 23, 1866 ; and the first ground was 
broken north of Three-mile Greek, in Mobile county, in Septem- 
ber, 1870. It is completed from Mobile to the Tombigbee river, 
a distance of 59 miles. Its total length, when completed to 
Birmingham, will be 232 miles ; and estimated total cost, $5,000,- 
000. West of the Tombigbee, the line runs on an elevated 
plateau, and, opposite Jackson, in Clarke county, curves east- 
wardly, and crosses the Tombigbee. Then it will continue in a 
northeasterly course up the valley of Bassett's Creek for 35 
miles, along an inclined plane of easy grades, to the dividing 
ridge between the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers. Cutting 
through this ridge, it will traverse the fertile post-oak and cane- 
brake regions of Marengo and Perry counties, in Alabama, and 
thence run over a rugged and broken country for a few miles to 
the the valley of the Cahaba river, and, strike the. mineral bed, 
about, 180 miles from Mobile. For the next 50 miles, to Birming- 
ham, the road will traverse the richest mineral region in North 
America, abounding in coal, iron, marble, etc. — inexh^iustible in 
quantities and easily accessible. 

Great interest is manifested in the early completion of this 
road, and steps are now being taken which, it is confidently be- 
lieved, will result in its immediate construction. Its General 
Offices are at Mobile ; and its only Connections are at that point, 
with the Mobile and Ohio, Mobile and Montgomery, and New 
Orleans and Mobile Eailroads, and the Steamers of the river, f 

The Mobile and Girard Railroad. — This, in alphabetical 
order, is the fourth of the uncompleted railroads of the State. It 
is intended to connect Girard, in Eussell county, Alabama, with 
Mobile ; and is completed from Girard to Troy, in Pike county— a 
distance of 85 miles. Its General Offices are at Columbus, Ga. ; 
and its Connections are, at Columbus^ with the North and South 
Georgia, the Southwestern of Georgia, and the Western of Ala- 
bama, Eailroads, and the Steamers of the Chattahoochee river ; at 
Union Springs, with the Montgomery and Eufaula railroad. It is 
in active operation to Troy, with daily trains.* 

The Mobile and Ohio Railroad.— This is one of the great 
completed lines of the State, and connects Mobile, Alabama, with 
Columbus, Kentucky, a point on the Mississippi river, distant from 
Mobile 472 miles. 

* For Stations and Distances on this road, see Appendix. 
t For Stations and Distances on this road, see appendix. 



120 

The Mobile and Ohio Eailroad was incorporated in the yeai* 
1848: the several States through which the projected road was to 
pass granting charters respectively — Alabama, February 3d ; Mis- 
sissippi, February 17th; Tennessee, February 28th; and Kentucky, 
February 26th, of same year. The first steps to consider the 
feasibility of building the Mobile and Ohio railroad, were taken at 
a public meeting held in the city of Mobile, January 11th, 1847 ; 
the object being, as then set forth, to develop a fine timber and 
agricultural region, and to connect the Ohio and upper Mississippi 
Valley with the Gulf of Mexico — opening up a trade through 
Mobile with the West India and South American ports, and with 
the commerce of the Pacific by railway across the Isthmus of 
Tehuantepec. 

The first ground was broken at a point about twenty-five miles 
from Mobile, in the month of October, 1849, and from that time 
the work was pushed as rapidly as practicable; but owing to 
unavoidable delays in procuring funds, the road was not com- 
pleted until the 22d day of April, 1861, when, with appropriate 
ceremonies, the last bar of iron was laid, at a point about three 
miles north of Corinth, Mississippi, thus completing the entire 
line between Columbus, Kentucky, and Mobile, Alabama — W. J. 
D. Baldwyn, Esq., the projector of the road, driving the last spike. 

The cost of the 486 miles of road (472 main line and 14 Colum- 
bus branch), exclusive of interest, was $11,965,097.89, or $24,619.50 
per mile — including machinery, rolling stock, and general and 
incidental expenses. The length of the road, exclusive of side 
track, is : 

Main Line — Mobile to Columbus, Ky 472 miles. 

Gainesville Branch — Narkeeta to Gainesville 21 " 

Columbus Branch — Artesia to Columbus, Miss 14 " 

Starksville Branch — Artesia to Starksville 11 " 

Aberdeen Branch — Muldon to Aberdeen... 9 " 

Total lerjgth of road 527 miles. 

Of the foregoing, the length of main stem in Alabama is sixty 
and sixty-six one hundredths of a mile. 

The country through which the road passes, for almost the 
entire distance, is of the secondary alluvial formation, with but 
very little rock, and that of the softest kind of limestone and 
sandstone. Its surface is moderately undulating; the highest 
point being about 500 feet above tide water at Mobile. The maxi- 
mum gradient, going south, does not exceed 30 feet to the mile ; 
or north, 40 feet. The maximum curvature (with one or two 
exceptions of one additional degree) is three degrees. 



i2i 

The soil for nearly three-fourths of the entire line is excellently 
adapted to agriculture, being fertile to an exceptional degree, and 
capable of very varied products. 

The greater part of the lands owned by the Mobile and Ohio 
Eailroad, which are for sale, lie in the States of Alabama and 
Mississippi, and are well watered and wooded, being mostly 
covered by forests of the long leaf yellow pine, which, besides 
furnishing timber of especial value, produces naval stores in 
abundance. 

The climate is healthful and pleasant, and the soil is excellently 
adapted to the cultivation of fruits and vegetables; and, with 
care, other crops peculiar to this latitude can also be successfully 
cultivated. 

These lands wUl be sold in lots' of forty acres and upwards, 
and to actual settlers concessions will be made. For any further 
particulars in regard to them, application may be made to Capt. 
A. S. Gaines, Land Commissioner, Mobile, Ala. 

The Mobile and Ohio is in active operation, and one of the 
smoothest, and best equipped railroads in the United States ; 
with daUy through freight and passenger trains, each way. Its 
. General Offices are at Mobile, Ala. Its Connections in Alabama, 
are, at Mobile^ with the Railroads centering there, and the Steam- 
ers of the Mobile river.* 

The Mobile and Montgomery Railroad. This road is 
completed, and connects Mobile, with Montgomery— the capital 
of Alabama. Its total length is 180 miles, all in Alabama. It was 
made up by a consolidation of the Alabama and Florida Eailroad, 
extending from Montgomery to Pollard, with the Mobile and 
Great Northern Railroad, extending from Pollard to the Tensas 
river. The act of the General Assembly of Alabama, authorizing 
the consolidation, was approved August 8, 1868. By an act of 
the General Assembly, approved February 25, 1870, an extension 
of the Moi)ile and Montgomery Railroad from Tensas to Mobile, 
was authorized. At that time, steamers connected its Tensas 
terminus with the city of Mobile. This extension was soon un- 
der contract, and the work executed with but little delay. 

Geologically^ the line runs through the Tertiary formation, un- 
til it arrives just above Greenville, in Butler county ; thence to 
Montgomery, it passes through the Cretaceous. 

For the first 20 miles out of Mobile, to Tensas and immedi- 
ately above, the line passes through a continuous swamp, and 
over several large rivers, spanned by an extensive, and durable, 

* For Stations and Distances on this road, see Appendix. 



I2l 

system of bridges and trestling; built since 1870, at a cost of 
more than $1,000,000, and a masterpiece of railroad engineering. 
For the next 130 miles, it runs through light sandy pine woods, 
in which are large areas of yellow pine timber, and many produc- 
tive turpentine orchards. Thence, to Montgomery, 30 miles, the 
line traverses rich, black, prairie lands — very fertile, and well 
adapted to corn and cotton. 

The Mobile and Montgomery is a link in a grand chain of rail- 
roads, connecting New Orleans with New York. It is thoroughly 
equipped and in active operation, with daily through freight and 
passenger trains, each way. Its General Offices are at Montgom- 
ery, Alabama ; and its Connections are, at Mobile, with the other 
Eailroads entering that city, and the Steamers of the Mobile river ; 
at Pensacola Junction, with the Pensacola Eailroad ; at Montgom- 
ery, with the several Eailroads radiating from that centre, and the 
Steamers of the Alabama river.* 

The Montgomery and Eufaula Railroad. This line con- 
nects Montgomery with Eufaula, Alabama, a distance of 80 miles. 
Geologically, its entire length is in the cretaceous formation of 
the State, and for 40 miles, next east of Montgomery, it passes 
through rich black prairie and cane-brake lands, well adapted to 
the production of cotton, corn, sugar cane, etc. Throughout the 
rest of the distance to Eufaula, the soil is sandy. It connects at 
Union Springs, with the Mobile and Girard Eailroad ; and at JEu- 
/aula, with the Central Eailroad, <.'f Georgia, the Vicksburg and 
Brunswick Eailroad, and the Steamers of the Chattahoochee 
river. The Montgomery and Eufaula Eailroad is extensively 
used by winter visitors to Florida, from the Northwestern States ; 
and is the shortest line from Louisville, Cincinnati, St. Louis, 
Chicago, and other points in the West, to the land of Flowers. 
The road is well equipped and in active operation; with daily 
through freight and passenger trains, each way. Its General 
Offices are at Montgomery, Alabama. The Montgomery and Eu- 
faula Eailroad was incorporated by an act of the General Assem- 
bly of Alabama, approved January 13, 1860. Work on it was be- 
gun at Montgomery, in 1860 ; but th6 war put a stop to its further 
construction. Work was resumed after the war, and the road 
was completed in 1872— the last spike being driven in that year, 
at Eufaula. f 

The Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railroad. 
This road is completed, well equipped, in active operation, and 

* Tor Stations and Distances on this road, see Appendix. 
I For Stations and Distances on tMs road, see appendix. 



123 

is a link in a chain of roads connecting the points named. Only 
24 miles of its length lie within Alabama — in Jackson county. 
Its Connection, in Alabama, are, at /Stevenson, with the Memphis 
and Charleston ; and at Bridgeport, with the Jasper Branch Rail- 
road. * 

The Nashville and Decatur Railroad. This is another 
completed railroad, and connects Nashville, Tennessee, with De- 
catur, Alabama, a distance of 123 miles ; of which, only 26 miles 
are within Alabama. The Nashville and Decatur is one of the three 
roads forming the consolidated Louisville and Great Southern 
Railroad, connecting Montgomery, Alabama, with Louisville, 
Kentucky, a distance of 490 miles ; the other railroads going to 
make up this consolidated line, are, the Louisville and Nashville, 
and the South and North Alabama. 

The Alabama Connections of the Nashville and Decatur Rail- 
road, are, at Decatur, with the Memphis and Charleston, and 
South Alabama Railroads,* and the Steamers of the Tennessee 
river, t 

The New Orleans and Mobile Railroad. This road con- 
nects the two points named, and is fully completed and equipped, 
and in active operation, with daily through freight and passenger 
trains ; each way. It is 1 41 miles in length ; of which, 41 miles 
lie within Alabama. It was incorporated by an act of the Gen- 
eral Assembly of Alabama, approved November 24, 1866; and 
the first ground was broken, at Mobile, May 19, 1868. • The ap- 
pointments of this railroad are first-class in every respect, and 
with its smooth road bed and track, it is probably one of the 
finest roads in the United States. 

In Alabama, it passes through the drift formation ; and the 
lands lying along its line, are light, sandy, and well timbered with 
valuable pine. 

Its General Offices are at New Orleans. Its Connections in Ala- 
bama, are all at Mobile, with the Railroads of that city, and the 
Steamers of the river.| 

The New Orleans and Selma Railroad. This is an un- 
completed railroad, and was projected to connect Selma, Ala- 
bama, with New Orleans, Louisiana. Its proposed line runs 
through the Alabama counties of Dallas, Wilcox, Marengo, 
Clarke, Choctaw, and Washington, crossing the projected Mobile 
and Alabama Grand Trunk Railroad, in Marengo county, and 
intersecting the Mobile and Ohio Railroad at the Mississippi 

:^ For Alabama Stations on this road, see appendix. 

t For Stations and Distances on this road, see appendix. 

X For Stations and Distances on this road, see Appendix. 



124 

State Line; thence it passes in a direct southwesterly course 
through the States of Mississippi, and Louisiana, to New Or- 
leans. It is completed, and in active operation to Martin, in Dal- 
las county, Alabama, 21 miles out of Selma. Its General Offices 
are at Selma, Alabama; and its only Connections are with the 
Eailroads entering that city, and the Steamers of the Alabama 
river. This road had its inception after the war.* 

The Pensacola Railroad. Thijs is a Florida railroad, con- 
necting Pensacola, Florida, with the . Mobile and Montgomery 
Eailroad, at Pensacola Junction — distant 44 miles from Pensacola. 
Only one-tenth of a mile of its length is within Alabama — in Es- 
cambia county. Its General Offices are at Pensacola. 

The Savannah and Memphis Railroad. This road is, also, 
uncompleted. It was projected to connect Opelika, in Lee county, 
Alabama, with a point on the Memphis and Charleston Eailroad, 
in Colbert county, Alabama ; and so form a link in a chain of 
roads, to extend from Savannah, Georgia, to Memphis, Tennessee. 
The proposed line of the Savannah and Memphis passes in a 
Northwesterly direction from Opelika, through the Alabama 
counties of Lee, Chambers, Tallapoosa, Coosa, Talladega, Shelby, 
Jefferson, Walker, Winston, Franklin, and Colbert, crossing, suc- 
cessively, the Selma, Eome, and ^Dalton Railroad, in Talladega 
county, and the South and North, and Alabama Great Southern 
Eailroads, in Jefferson county. 

It is completed and i*n operation, to Goodwater, in the north- 
eastern edge of Coosa county, 60 miles out of Opelika. Its Gen- 
eral Offices are at Opelika, where are its only Connections, viz : 
With the Western of Alabama, and East Alabama and Cincir^nati 
Eailroads, and the Columbus, Georgia, Branch of the Western.f 

The Selma and Gulf Railroad. This is another uncom- 
pleted railroad of Alabama ; and has, also, had its inception Since 
the war. It was projected to connect Selma, Alabama, with the 
Gulf of Mexico, at Pensacola, Florida. When completed, it will 
intersect the Mobile and Montgomery Eailroad, at Pollard, in Es- 
cambia county, Alabama, and thence, run down that line, 6 miles, 
to Pensacola Junction, where it will connect with the Pensacola 
Eailroad, leading to Pensacola. This road is completed and in 
active operation to Pineapple, in Wilcox county, Alabama, 40 
miles south of Selma. Its General Offices are at Selma ; where it 
connects with the Eailroads diverging from that city, and the 
Steamers of the Alabama river. | 

* For Stations and Distances on this road, see Appendix. 
t For Stations and Distances ontliis road, see appendix. 
i For Stations and Distances on tliis road, see appendix . 



The Selma, Marion, and Memphis Railroad. This road 
was originally projected to extend from Selma, Alabama, . wa. 
Marion, Alabama, to Memphis, Tennessee ; but it is completed 
and in operation to Sawyers, in Hale county, Alabama, only a 
distance of 60 miles from Selma. It has had its origin since the 
war, and is well known as the Forrest Boad^ from the fact that 
General Forrest, the famous Confederate cavalry leader, was its 
first, and very active. President. ^ 

The General Offices are at Selma, Alabama, where it connects 
with the other Eailroads, and the Steamers, of that city. * 

The Selma, Rome, and Dalton Railroad. Called, also, 
the Blue Mountain line, from its skirting the base of Blue Moun- 
tain, in Calhoun county, Alabama. It was originally known as the 
Alabama and Tennessee Rivers EaUroad ; and was designed to 
form one of a chain of railroads connecting the Alabama river at 
Selma, with the Tennessee river at Chattanooga. It was pro- 
jected and partly constructed (the portion in Alabama, out from 
Selma), before the war ; but has been completed since, when it 
was given the name it bears at present. This line extends in a 
northeasterly and southwesterly direction from Selma, Alabama, 
to Dalton, Georgia, via. Eome, Georgia, and is 236 miles in length, 
of which 171 miles lie within Alabama. Geologically, its line 
runs through the Cretaceous, and Post Tertiary formations in Al- 
abama, until it reaches Shelby county, where it enters the Silu- 
rian and Devonian ; thence, it continues through the last forma- 
tion until it leaves the State — passing from Shelby county north- 
ward, through a section of Alabama abounding in mineral wealth. 
Along the Selma, Eome, and Dalton Eailroad, are a number of 
extensive iron furnaces, and locations where coal is largely 
mined. So, also, are to be found along this road extensive lime 
kilns, which supply the State with a very superior quality of 
lime, manufactured from the lime rock to be found in that section 
in great abundance. The Selma, Eome, and Dalton Eailroad is in 
good order, with a good, hard, smooth bed, and is well equipped. 
It is in active operation, with daily through freight and passenger 
trains, each way. Its Alabama connections are, at Selma, with 
the Eailroads, and Steamers, of that city ; at Galera, with the 
Southland North Alabama Eailroad. Its General Offices are at 
Selma, Alabama, t 

The South and North Alabama Railroad. This raUroad 
extends longitudinally through the State, and connects Mont- 

* For Stations and Distances on this road, see appendix. 
X For Stations and Distances on this road, see appendix. 



1^6 

gomery, Alabama, with Decatur, Alabama. It is a link in a great 
chain of railroad running from Montgomery, to Louisville Ken- 
tucky — known as the Louisville and Great Southern Eailway. 
The length of the South and North Alabama Eailroad, omitting 
fractions, is 182 miles — all lying within Alabama. Geologically, 
the line passes through the Cretaceous and Post Tertiary forma- 
tions in Alabama, until it reaches Shelby county, where it enters 
the Silurian and Devonian ; thence, it passes through the Carbonif- 
erous, to Decatur. This Eailroad, like the Alabama Great 
Southern, and Selma, Eome, and Dalton Eailroads, also, traverses 
the rich mineral regions of the State, and along its line, are 
several large furnaces, and many extensive coal and iron mines. 
The South and North Alabama Eailroad was projected before, 
but has been built since the war. It is one of the smoothest and 
best equipped railroads in the South, with an excellent and du- 
rable bed, and is in active operation, with daily through freight 
and passenger trains, each way. It has one Branch Eoad — the 
Elmore Branch, from Elmore Station to Wetumpka, Alabama, 
a distance of 6 miles, just completed, and over which trains 
pass daily. This branch was built by convict labor^ from the 
Alabama Penitentiary, and at the expense of the State, to afford 
greater facilities to that institution. The General Offices of the 
South and North Alabama Eailroad are at Birmingham, Alabama ; 
and its Connections are, at Montgomery, with the Eailroads and 
Steamers of that city ; at Elmore Station, with the Elmore Branch 
Eailroad to Wetumpka; at Calera, with the Selma, Eome, and 
Dalton Eailroad ; at Birmingham, with the Alabama Great Southern 
Eailroad ; at Decatur, with the Nashville and Decatur, and Mem- 
phis and Charleston Eailroads, and the Steamers of the Tennessee 
river.f 

The Southwestern Railroad (of Georgia.) This is a 
Georgia railroad, extending from Columbus to Cuthbert, Georgia, 
and having only four-fifths of a mile of its length within Alabama, 
in Barbour county. 

The Tuskegee Railroad. This is a short railroad, connect- 
ing Chehaw Station, on the Western Eailroad, with Tuskegee, in 
Macon county, a distance of 5 miles — projected and built since 
the war. 

The Vicksburg and Brunswick Railroad. This is an un- 
completed raUroad. It was incorporated January 23, 1867, and 
projected to connect Eufaula, Alabama, with Meridian, Missis- 
sippi, via Troy, Greenville, and Camden, Alabama. At Meridian 

t For Stations and Distances on tills road, see Appendix. 



127 

it was designed to connect with the Vicksburg and Meridian, and 
at Bufaula with a road to Brunswick, Georgia, on the Atlantic 
coast. This road is built and equipped and in active operation, 
with daily trains to Clayton, the county site of Barbour county, 
21 miles from Eufaula. Its General Offices are at Eufaula, and 
its only Connections are at that point, with the Montgomery and 
Eufaula, and Southwestern (of Georgia) Eailroads, and the Steam- 
ers of the Chattahoochee river.* 

The Western Railroad (of Alabama.) This railroad ex- 
tends from Montgomery, Ala., to West Point, Ga.; with a branch 
from Montgomery to Selma, 50 miles,* and one from Opelika, to 
Columbus, Ga., 29 miles. The part, between Montgomery and 
West Point, was formerly known as the Montgomery and West 
Point Eailroad. The Connections of the Western Eailroad are, 
at Selma, with the Railroads and Steamers of that city ; at Mont- 
gomery, with the Eailroads and Steamers of that city ; at CJiehaw, 
with the Tuskegee Eailroad ; at OpeliJca, with the Savannah and 
Memphis, East Alabama and Cincinnati, and the Columbus Branch 
Eailroads ; at West Point, Ga., with the Atlanta and West Point 
Eailroad ; at Yongshoro, with the Chewacla Eailroad, at Colum- 
bus, Ga., with the Southwestern Eailroad, and the Steamers of 
the Chattahoochee river. Geologically, the line of this road, in 
Alabama, passes through the Cretaceous formation to near Che- 
haw ; thence to Kotasulga, the formation is of the Post-Tertiary -, 
and thence to West Point, of the Metamorphic. The maximum 
grade of the Western Eailroad is 56 feet to the mile, and the max- 
imum curve 5 °. Various black prairie, light-loamy, and rolling 
red soils occur along its mam stem and branches, well adapted for 
agricultural purposes. The Western Eailroad is, also, well 
equipped and in active operation, with daily through freight and 
passenger trains, each way. General Offices, Montgomery, Ala.| 

THE POSTAL FACILITIES OF ALABAMA.§ 

Up to June 1, 1878, there had been established in Alabama, 
970 Postoffices,|| and to this list new ones are constantly being 
added. At that date, of the other Southern States Arkansas had 
731, Florida 271, Georgia 890, Louisiana 388, Mississippi 618, 
North Carolina 1,298, South Carolina 543, Tennessee 1,232, Texas 
1,116, Virginia, 1,590, West Virginia 829. 

* For Stations and Distances on this road, see Appendix. 

t Built since tlie war. 

X For Stations and Distances on this road, see Appendix. 

§ CarefuHy compiled fi-om the United States OflScial Postal Guide for July, 1878. 

II For Alphabetical List of these Postofflces, see Appendix. 



128 

Of the 970 "offices in Alabama, 57 are Money-Order offices.* 
Cullman and Eufaula are, also, German International Money-Order 
offices ; Huntsville British and Swiss ; and Mobile and Montgom- 
ery British, Canadian, German,'°^Swiss, and Italian. Mobile has 
Free Delivery, with six Letter-Oarriers. 

Landings on the eastern shore of the Bay of Mobile have daily 
mail service by steamer, from Mobile City. Landings on the 
Mobile, Alabama, Tombigbee, Little Tombigbee, and Black Warrior 
Elvers have semi-weekly service, by steamers from Mobile City — 
Tuesdays and Saturdays. Landings on the Coosa river are served 
from Rome, Georgia, by steamers — semi-weekly. 

There is no lack of mail facilities throughout the State, and 
every section is regularly and satisfactorily served. Tampering 
with the mails is rarely heard of in Alabama, and losses seldom 
occur. 

THE TELEGRAPH AND EXPRESS FACILITIES OF ALA- 
BAMA. 

The lines of the Western Union Telegraph Company ramify 
throughout every section of the State, while the Southern Ex- 
press Company has routes over all the railways in the State- 
thus affording the people of Alabama ample and in every way re- 
liable Telegraph and Express facilities. The employes of the tele- 
graph company are skillful and attentive; while those of the ex- 
press company are honest and competent. Exj)ress robberies or 
peculations by express officials never happen in Alabama. 

* For Alpliabetical List of Money-Order offices in Alabama, see Appendix. 



Part Ninth. 



Outline of the Geology of Alabama.* 

BY 

EUGENE A. SMITH, PH. D,, STATE GEOLOGIST. 



I. GEOLOGICAL SUEVET. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

From the Eeport of Progress of the Geological Survey, for 
the year 1874, we make the following extracts : 

The first systematic examination into the geological structure of the 
State of Alabama, was begun in 1847 by Michael Tuomey, then Professor 
of Mineralogy, Geology, and Agricultural Chemistry, in the University 
of Alabama. 

It was made the duty of that officer, at his appointment, " to spend 
such portions of his time, not exceeding/owr months in each year, in ex- 
ploring the State in connection with his proper department, as the Trus- 
tees may consider for the advantage of the State." 

Reports of this survey were made to the Board of Trustees, and ex- 
tracts from the same, which were thought to be of general interest, were 
published in the Tuscaloosa newspapers. 

The interest excited by these published extracts, led to the passage 
by the General Assembly of the State, in January, 1848, of resolutions 
appointing Professor Tuomey Geologist to the State, and requiring him 
to lay before the General Assembly the full reports of his geological sur- 
veys and explorations. 

The expenses of these explorations were borne by the University, 
and the report upon them was submitted to Governor Collier, in Decem- 
ber, 1849, which report was published at the cost of the State in 1850. 

Professor Toumey continued his explorations, the University of Ala- 
bama still bearing the expenses of the survey, until the passage by the 
General Assembly, in 1854, of "An act to provide for a geological and 
agricultural survey of the State," by which the Governor was authorized 
to appoint a State Geologist, and the sum of ten thousand dollars, ex- 
clusive of the salary of the State Geologist, was appropriated for the 
purpose of employing assistants and defraying the incidental expenses 
of the survey. 

* Written expressly for this Hand-Book. 



I30 

Professor Tuomey received the appointment of state Geologist, and 
early in 1854 took the field, in company with E, Q. Thornton, Esq., his 
assistant. Other assistants in field work, were Oscar M. Lieber, Esq., 
and W. Echols Hollowell, Esq., and in January, 1855, Dr. John W. Mal- 
let was appointed Chemist to the survey. 

In the autumn of 1855, the second biennial report was submitted to 
the Legislature, and ordered to be printed. The printing of the report 
was delayed from various causes : Professor Tuomey's death occurred 
in March, 1857, and upon Prof. Mallet devolved the duty of superintend- 
ing the publication of the report, which appeared in 1858. 

Since the termination of the war, the attention both of Alabamians, 
and of citizens of other States, has been directed to the vast wealth of 
our natural resources. The development of this hidden wSalth was 
naturally looked to as as one of the most important factors in the prob- 
lem of the restoration of the prosperity of the State. The changes in 
the system of labor, and in the relations of the laborer to the land- 
owner, consequent upon the decisions of the war, lessened very ma- 
terially the profits of agriculture, which, until 1865, and even a few years 
later, was almost the only great industry within the limits of the State. 

Before our citizens had learned to adapt themselves to the new order 
of things, many a disastrous failure had fallen upon them. Discouraged 
by these repeated failures, many have looked for other fields in which 
to invest more profitably their labor and capital. The immense coal and 
iron deposits of Alabama could not long escape notice, and demands for 
the two Geological Reports of Prof. Tuomey were continually made by 
men desirous of investing in the iron and coal lands. These reports 
have for some years been very scarce, and I believe are not now to be 
had. Attempts have been made to induce the General Assembly to re- 
publish them ; but without success. Many private surveys have been 
made by companies ; but the reports of such explorations have not been 
always at the service of the people. 

Under these circumstances, it will not excite surprise that the Board 
of Regents of the University, at their meeting in June, 1871, passed an 
ordinance requiring the Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in the 
University to devote as much time in travelling through the State in 
making collections and examinations in Geology, as was consistent with 
his duties at the University. 

Under this ordinance some field work was done, and at the 
meeting of the General Assembly, in 1872-73, a bill was passed 
and approved by the Governor, April 18, 1873, appointing Dr. 
Eugene A. Smith, Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in the 
University of Alabama, State Geologist ; requiring him to make 
annual reports of the results of the survey ; and to make collections 
of specimens illustrative of the Geological, Mineralogical, and Ag- 
ricultural features of the State, one suite of which was to be de- 
posited in the Cabinet of the University of Alabama, at Tusca- 
loosa, a second suite in the Cabinet of the Agricultural and Me- 
chanical College, at iluburn, and a third suite in th6 oflioe of the 



Commissioner of Industrial Resources, at the Capitol. To carry 
out the work of the survey, an appropriation was made, of $3,000, 
to purchase chemical apparatus, wagon and team, camp equip- 
ments, etc., and an annual sum of $500, was voted to pay the 
travelling and incidental expenses of the Geologist during such 
time as he might be engaged in the field work of the survey. 

Since the passage of this act, the three months of the summer 
vacation of each year, have been devoted to the field work, three 
reports of Progress have been published, suites of specimens 
have been collected and deposited at the University and at the 
Agricultural College. 

The ofiace of Commissioner of Industrial Resources having 
been abolished, no specimens have been deposited at the Capitol, 
in Montgomery. 

It will be seen that the total expense to the State of this 
survey, with the exception of that for equipments, and for the 
printing of the annual reports, is the sum of $500, annually. 

In a State which depends, or which will in the future depend, 
so greatly upon its mineral wealth for its prosperity, this sum is a 
mere pittance. The financial embarrassment of the State at the 
time of the institution of the survey, due to years of misrule, 
prevented a larger appropriation. Now, however, with the return 
of prosperity, there is no reason why a sum of money should not 
be expended on the survey, in some way commensurate with the 
importance of the interests to be furthered by it. 

II. GENERAL GEOLOGICAL FEATURES AND SUB-DI- 
VISIONS. 

Geographically we may divide the State into two sections, dif- 
fering very greatly from each other in area. 

The first, or Northern section, belongs to the great Mississippi 
Valley, its drainage being by the Tennessee and its tributaries into 
that river. It includes the valley of the Tennessee in North Ala- 
bama. The second or Southern section includes the rest of the 
State, the drainage of which is into the Gulf through the waters 
of the Chattahoochee, Choctawhatchee, and Alabama rivers and 
their tributaries. 

Geologically^ there are three tolerably well defined divisions, 
viz : The Northern, the Middle, and the Southern. 

The first of these includes the first geographical division given 
above, together with the greater part of the Warrior coal fields, 
and it belongs to that great table land lying to the north and 



northwest of the area of uplifted strata which make up the sec- 
ond or middle division. 

This middle division is merely the continuation and south- 
western termination of a series of uplifted and fractured folds 
which, under the name of the Appalachian Chain, extends from 
the Eastern States through Pennsylvania, etc., into Alabama. 

Throughout this part of the State, the strata are seldom hori- 
zontal, but generally dip at considerable angles, usually either 
southeast or northwest. 

The southern and southwestern boundary of this region is ap- 
proximately a line passing through or near the towns of Fayette- 
ville, Tuscaloosa, Centerville, Wetumpka, Tallassee, and east- 
ward to Columbus, Georgia. 

South and southwest of this line, lies the third or southern 
division. 

The rocks underlying this part of the State have not been 
pressed into folds like the strata of the adjoining region, but lie 
nearly horizontal — with, however, a gentle slope south and west 
towards the gulf. 

Before going into any details concerning the geology of the 
State, it will be necessary to explain certain geological terms, and 
to give a table of the geological formations of North America, 
noting those which are represented in Alabama. 

By far the greater part of the rocks of this country show evi- 
dences of having been deposited in beds or layers, and are called 
from that circumstance, stratified rocks (from stratus, spread out.) 
In some localities, filling fissures and cavities in the bedded rocks, 
are others which are massive, i. e., without planes of stratification. 
Besides this absence of all evidence of bedding, these rocks 
show quite plainly that they have been erupted in a fused or 
semi-fused condition, and the name, igneous rocJcs, has reference 
to this character. 

In structure also, these two classes of rooks show striking 
differences ; the stratified are plainly beds of materials derived 
from the disintegration of some pre-existing rocks. They are, in 
other words,' " more or less consolidated sediments." They have 
been deposited gradually and slowly in nearly horizontal beds 
from suspension in water, just as mud, sand, and gravel are now 
seen deposited in beds at the bottoms of ponds, lakes, and run- 
ning streams. From the size of the material some estimate can 
be formed of the circumstances attending the deposition ; thus 
in swiftly running water, only pebbles and larger fragments will 
be deposited; sand and the finer particles .constituting mud, will 



be washed further to be deposited finally where the current is 
slower. In stUl water is found only the finest sediment. This 
sorting of the materials, by the action of water, into finer and 
coarser sediments, gives rise to the beds, or layers, or strata^ 
which are the marked characteristics of the stratified rocks. 

We notice at the present time, that in mud beds and other 
sediments, leaves, sticks, and animal remains, such as bones, 
shells, &c., are frequently buried and thus preserved: so it has 
probably always been since the introduction of life upon the 
earth. 

Organic remains of this kind are constantly met with when 
beds of stratified rocks are examined; they are usually called 
fossils from fossilis, dug mj). 

They show very striking differences when compared with each 
other, some very closely resembling the remains of animals and 
plants of the present day ; whUst others differ widely from any- 
thing now livLug, and if we could examine a series of beds in 
regular superposition upon each other, we should find that the 
fossils diverged more widely in appearance from the forms of the 
present day, the lower, (and consequently the older) the bed 
from which they were obtained. 

Each sedimentary bed includes the remains of those organic 
beings only, which lived during the period of its deposition. In 
this way the fossils become in some measure indicative of the age 
of the stratum in which they occur, for it has been found possi- 
ble to divide the whole series of stratified rocks into groups 
or formations ^^ each of which is characterized by possessing an 
assemblage of organic remains, which do not occur in association 
in any other formation " From a collection of the fossils there- 
fore, of any particular bed, may be determined with very little 
difficulty the geological horizon of the bed. 

The first and most obvious test of the relative age of any bed 
or group of beds is that of superposition. If we had an unbroken 
and undisturbed series of deposits from the first formed to those 
of the present day, the question of relative age, would of course 
be merely a question of superposition: but such a series is 
nowhere to be found. In some of the canons of the West, are 
exposed clear sections through one or two geological formations, 
but even these are exceptional. 

In general we find the rocks no longer in their original 
horizontal positions, but inclined or tilted at greater or less angles. 

Where the strata are in their original positions, their relations 
to each other can be seen only where they have been cut through, 



134 

as for instance, by the denuding action of waters, and in the 
deepest canons, these sections are at most only a few thousand 
feet in thickness. 

Where the rocks have been tilted up, and thrown into folds, 
and the crest of the folds swept away by denudation, by crossing 
the upturned edges or outcrops of the different beds, we may 
determine the order of super position through still greater thick- 
nesses, sometimes amounting to several miles. 

In this way, by examining the superposition of the beds upon 
each other, their relative ages may be determined, but when we 
consider that the aggregate thickness of the stratified rocks so 
far as examined by geologists, is about 15 to 18 miles, and that in 
any one locality only a part of these beds may be seen together, 
and when we remember that whilst in one part of the world 
deposits were forming, in another part, the land would be above 
the water, and thus receive no deposits, and that an unhroJcen 
series of sediments nowhere exists, the difficulty of determining 
by superposition alone, anything more than the relative age of a 
few adjacent beds will be seen, and the great value of fossils in 
deciding the question of age where other tests are insufficient, 
becomes apparent. 

The massive or igneous rocTcs^ on the other hand, are not made 
up of layers of material of different kinds. They are not made 
up of fragments, (coarse or fine) of other rocks, but are generally 
more or less crystalline. They are found filling the fissures in other 
rocks, wedged in between the beds of the stratified rocks, or 
covering unconformably these beds, as if they had been poured 
out in a melted condition. They show no traces of organic 
remains or fossils. 

For our purposes we may dismiss this class of igneous rocks 
with the remark that in Alabama their distribution is confined to 
the region of metamorphic rocks to be explained below, where 
they are seen filling the fissures in these, sometimes crossing the 
bedding planes, sometimes intruded between the beds. These 
masses of igneous rocks are commonly called dihes or trap diJces. 

There is another class of rocks somewhat intermediate be- 
tween the two described. They are distinctly bedded on the one 
hand, and are crystalline and usually devoid of fossils on the 
Qther. These are the crystalline schists /or metamorphic rocks. 

When a mass of ordinary soil or clay is exposed to the action 
of heat it is very sensibly changed. We see on a small scale 
something of the nature of this change, in the transformation by 
heat of clay into bricks. On a larger scale, instances of similar 



kind are noticed where in mines, the coal beds have caught on 
fire and burned for a long time. The rocks adjacent to these 
burning beds, are baked into hard masses as unlike the original 
rocks, as the bricks are unlike the unbaked loam. So on a still 
larger scale, whole series of strata, over considerable superficial 
areas, under the influences of long continued heat or pressure or 
both combined, have been changed or metamorphosed. Beds of 
mud or clay have been by these influences altered into hard clay 
slates, or mica slates, sandstones into crystalline mica slates, 
gneiss, &c. In most cases, by this metamorphic action the traces 
of the original bedding are not entirely lost, but fossil remains 
are almost universally obliterated, though exceptions to this are 
well known. 

What is the source of the heat and pressure which cause this 
change in sedimentary rocks f 

In a district where metamorphic rocks occur, one can not fail 
to notice that they are rarely horizontal, but dip at various angles 
to the horizon. Great folds and cracks in the strata may also be 
observed, and moreover, such rocks are found in mountainous 
regions. Folds, fractures or dislocations of the strata (technically 
called faults), metamorphism or crystallization of the sedimen- 
tary rocks, and the formation of mountain chains, — these are all 
concomitants of, or caused by the oscillations of the crust of the 
earth. 

Not to go too much into theoretical discussions, it is now a 
generally received hypothesis amongst geologists, that the earth is 
% cooling globe ; that it was once in a melted condition, and as 
the cooling progressed, by radiation into space, a solid crust was 
formed ; that in cooling the earth contracts ; that the contraction 
is not equal in all parts of the earth, some parts cooling and con- 
tracting more rapidly than others ; that this inequality in the con- 
traction causes some parts to sink below the general level, — these 
lower basins being now occ\ipied by the waters of the ocean ; 
that the sinking of the oceanic depressions causes a pressure 
against the higher land at the shore ; by which this higher land is 
pressed into wrinkles. A familiar and homely illustration is 
often given in the drying of an apple, where the skin is thrown 
into wrinkles. The pressure caused by the contraction of the 
areas occupied by the sea would be exerted against the more 
stable land of the shore, in such a way as to cause a fold or a 
series of folds approximately parallel to the sea shore. That in 
soft and yielding material these folds would be easily produced, 
and of not very great height ; that as the earth's crust became 



136 

more stiff and unyielding it resisted the tendency to be thrown 
into folds for a time, but when the pressure became too great, 
folds were nevertheless produced, but of much greater size, and 
the bent and folded crust would often be unable to bear the 
strain and would be broken (as a piece of stiff pasteboard is 
broken by being sharply folded), causing faults^ that in propor- 
tion as the earth's crust became more rigid, the resistance to the 
folding would be greater, and the catastrophe, when eventually 
the pressure would overcome the rigidity of the crust, would be 
correspondingly more profound; that finally, this crushing to- 
gether of the solid matter of the earth's crust would develop an 
amount of heat which, in some cases, would be sufficient to melt 
the solid rock, and which in many other cases, in connection with 
moisture would be able to cause the partial dissolving of the 
rocks so as to allow of the re-arrangement of their materials ac- 
cording to crystallographic laws ; or, in other words, the heat 
alone, or in connection with moisture, and under pressure may 
cause the crystallization or metamorjjMsm of the sedimentary rocks* 

The ultimate effect of the folding, just spoken of, would be to 
cause a series of elevations, with depressions between them, par- 
allel to the sea-shore ; and a raising of the general level of these 
folds above that of the less disturbed region at a distance from 
the shore, would complete the formation of the mountain chain, 
and these elevations would be all the more permanent because of 
the hardening of the sediments composing them, due to meta- 
morphism or crystallization, and the increased power of resistance 
to the denuding action of the rain and running waters. m 

This process of folding, crystallization, and the formation of 
permanent mountain chains is a slow one, extending over ages. 
I have spoken only of the folding and flexing, and elevation of 
the strata. In truth, the phenomena are much complicated. 
During the long period of oscillation, preceding the formation of 
a mountain chain, the area near the shore is sometimes sinking 
and receiving accumulated sediments from the denudation of 
higher lands, sometimes rising and being itself denuded. 

The amount of sediments collected in such areas is often very 
great, being 30,000 to 40,000 feet in thickness in the Appalachian 
chain, which runs approximately parallel to the Atlantic coast.f 

* The degree of heat necessary to cause this change need not be very gxeat; for It 
is well known from experiments in the laboratory, that hot water when acting for 
some time upon the most insoluble substances, under pressure, is capable of dlssolT- . 
ing them, 

t The question "Whence come the great accumulations of sediment which form 
the mass of the Appalachian chain?' ' is one upon which the opinions of geologists are 
divided. Itjneed not be considered here . 



T^Tom the above hypotheses, one would expect to find a moun- 
tain chain approximately parallel to the coast line of every great 
ocean, and a glance at the map will show that this i^ the case. 

The Appalachian chain, including the Blueridge and the AUe- 
ghenies and their continuations and terminations in Alabama, is 
the mountain border of the continent towards the Atlantic. 

. The movements of the earth's crust which end in producing a 
permanent mountain chain, are periodic in their nature, — a long 
continued oscillation, great accumulation of sediment, and finally 
the crushing together and consolidation of these sediments and 
the elevation of the whole mass. Of the several epochs of 
mountain-making on this continent that which occurred at the 
close of the Carboniferous age, is the one of most interest to us, 
for at that time the Appalachian chain became a permanent feature 
of the continent as a mountain range. 




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1^9 
III. GEOLOGICAL DETAILS. 

THE. MIDDLE, OR APPALACHIAN DIYISION. 

The southern and southwestern boundary of this division, is 
approximately a line passing through the towns of Fayetteville, 
Tuscaloosa, Oenterville, Wetumpka, Tallassee, and Columbus, 
Georgia. 

A line drawn on the map from Chattanooga, Tenn., to a point 
some six or eight miles east of Tuscaloosa, would mark approxi- 
mately the line of 'separation between this and the northern di- 
vision. 

This region belongs to the Appalachian System, and we find 
the strata seldom horizontal, but generally dipping at consider- 
able angles southeast and northwest, the prevailing dip being to- 
wards the southeast. 

It will be seen by the boundaries above given, that this di- 
vision of the State includes : 

1. The Metamorphic Eegion. 

2. The Coosa Valley and its outliers, viz: The Cahaba Val- 
ley, Eoup's and Jones' Valley, Murphree's Valley, Wills' Valley, 
and Brown's Valley. 

3. The Coosa and Cahaba Coal Fields. 

The Geological Formations represented are: 

f 2a. Acadian. 

2b. Potsdam. 

I 3a. Calclferous, or Knox Sandstone. 

<i^i,n^o« ) 3b. Quebec, oi- Knox Sliale and Knox Dolomite, 

feuunan <; g^. chazy. 

I 4a. Tx-enton. 
4c. Cincinnati. 

L 5b. Clinton. 
Devonian — 10c. Genessee, or Black Shale. 

ri3a. Lower Sub -Carboniferous. Siliceous Group. 

.|l3b. Upper Sub-Carboniferous. Mountain Limestone. 
Carboniferous \ 14a. Millstone Grit. 

I 14b. Lower Coal Measures. 

1. 14a.— Upper Coal Measures— not certainly made out. 
Tilassic and Jurassic. 16 and 17. Trap Dikes. 

Q^^^^^-^a^-y liob! S[u"um. 



For some reasons it will be more convenient to treat under 
separate heads, the Metamorphic Eegion, the Coosa Valley and 
its outliers, and the Coosa and Cahaba Coal Fields. 

The Metamor^Me Eegion. 

The Selma, Eome, and Dalton Eailroad, from the Georgia 
Line to Coosa Bridge, runs nearly parallel to the northwestern 
limit of the metamorphic area, and from six to ten miles distant 



ifrom it westward. This irregular line, with another running from 
near the Shelby Iron Works, through Verbena Station, We- 
tumpka, Tallassee, and eastward to Columbus, Georgia, and 
a third made by the boundary line between Georgia and Ala- 
bama, enclose a triangle within which are found most of the met- 
amorphic rocks of the State. 

As to the age of the metamorphic rocks, the opinions of geol- 
gists differ materially ; by some they are considered pre-Silurian, 
by others, as the altered sediments principally of the Silurian 
age. . 

In my Report for 1874, I inclined to the view that the crys- 
talline rocks in Alabama were pre-Silurian, but I have feince had 
reason to believe tbat a part, at least, of them are -metamor- 
phosed Silurian beds. Until further examinations are made, I 
shall leave the question of age an open one, except in two in- 
stances, viz : Near the northwestern boundary of the meta- 
morphic area, there is a prominent ridge which in all probability, 
is of an altered Potsdam sandstone ridge, and near Columbus, 
Georgia, on both sides of the river, are some beds of rock which 
will probably prove to be Eozoic or Archaean. 

The differences between the metamorphic and the unaltered 
rocks, are patent even to the unpracticed eye, hence the treat- 
ment of them under separate heads, even though they should 
not differ in age, is justified on the score of convenience, if for 
no other reason. 

1st. Metamorphic Rocks. 

Mica-Bearing Series. 

1. Granite. 2. Gneiss. 3. Mica Schist: These three 
rocks have the same composition, being aggregations of quartz, 
feldspar, and mica. They differ in their structure— the granite 
being massive, without tendency to split into slabs, the gneiss 
being distinctly stratified, and the mica schist being like the 
gneiss laminated, and having besides, less feldspar, more quartz 
and much more mica— the laminated character being due in great 
measure to the parallel arrangement of the scales of mica. 

4. Mica Slate, has a composition similar to mica schist, but 
with smoother surface, the scales of mica not being visible to the 
naked eye. 

5. Clay Slate or Argillite, is a fine grained slaty rock, 
with the composition of the preceding : a strict line of damarca- 
tion between these two cannot well be drawn. Some of these 



141 

slates split up readily into smooth plates, which may be used 
for roofing purposes. 

6. Hydromica Slate. This rock has a composition similar 
to mica slate, but it contains a hydrous mica, which imparts to the 
rock a pearly lustre, and a more or less greasy feel like talc. The 
majority of the so-called talcose slates of this State are hydro 
mica slates. 

Many of the fine grained slaty rocks of this region are im- 
pregnated with graphite or plumbago, some to such an extent that 
they are used for lubricating purposes. 

Hornblendic Series. 

1. Stenitic or Hornblendic Gneiss. This is one of the 
most abundant rocks in the metamorphic region. It may be de- 
fined as a gneiss, in which the mineral hornblende takes the place 
of most of the mica. 

2. HoRNBL,ENDE ScHiST, a slaty rock composed chiefly of 
hornblende. 

3. DiORiTE. This resembles syenite, but has a triclinic feld- 
spar instead of orthoclase. In many localities a syenitic gneiss 
with triclinic feldspar is common. With most of these horn- 
blendic rocks, are associated ores of iron — magnetite and limo- 
nite or brown iron ore. Some of these beds are extensive — only 
one has been thus far utilized. 

Hydrous Magnesian Series. 

1. Talcose- Slate. A slaty, soapy feeling rock, composed 
chiefly of talc, is not common in Alabama. 

2. SoAPSTONE OR STEATITE. A granular, massive, or schistose 
rock, of greenish or grayish colors, soft, soapy to the touch. 
The composition varies, being talc and chlorite, or talc and actin- 
olite, etc. This is quite abundant in some parts of this region 
and it is usually associated with other rocks containing chlorite 
especially with 

3. Chloritic Schist, a slaty rock composed chiefly of scales 
of chlorite, with some quartz and feldspar. 

Quartzose BocTcs. 

1. QuARTZiTE. A granular to compact quartz rock, usually, 
of light colors. 

2. Siliceous Slate. A flinty, slaty quartz rock, very fine 
grained. 



142 

3. Itacolumite. a slaty rock composed of quartz grains and 
a micaceous mineral — the quartz predominating. Some speci- 
mens are quite flexible. Associated with this rock are sometimes 
found gold, diamond, and specular iron. Specular iron is its 
principal associate in Alabama; but sometimes titanic iron in 
scales is found with it, making a rather uncommon rock. 

4. Jasper Eock. A compact siliceous rock of dull colors, 
usually red, yellow, or greenish. Associated with the preceding. 

Calcareous Rocks. 

1. Crystalline Limestone, (Marble). Essentially carbonate 
of lime, with some impurities, sach as talc, mica, etc. Talladega 
county. 

2. Dolomite. A crystalline, granular rock, composed of car- 
bonate of lime and corbonate of magnesia. Lee county. 

2nd. Igneous Rocks. 

These rocks occur filling fissures in the stratified crystalline 
rocks. They are usually rich in iron, and upon the decay of the 
rock, there results a highly ferruginous clayey mass, the intrusive 
nature of which can be recognized long after the original rock 
has disappeared. 

The igneous rocks of the State have not yet been much 
studied, only the two varieties given below have been accurately 
determined. 

1. DoLERiTE. A moderately fine grained aggregate of pyrox- 
ine and magnetite. This has been obtained from near Verbena 
Station, in Chilton county, and from the vicinity of Auburn. 

2. OssiPiTE. This is a coarse grained rock composed of labra- 
dorite, chrysolite, hypersthene, and titanic iron. This is from a 
trap dike near Notasulga, and is the second locality in the United 
States from which it has been obtained. It was first described 
from specimens from Waterville, N. H. It is an interesting ques- 
tion amongst geologists whether this is an igneous or a metamor- 
phic rock, since if it were metamorphic, the beds would probably 
be Laiirentian. The specimen bears Prof. Tuomey's label, " Trap 
Dike, from near Notasulga," and I have accordingly given it a 
place among our igneous rocks. 

Stratigraphical Relations. 

In a section crossiug the metamorphic region from northwest 
to southeast, the general relations of the strata may be best seen. 



143 

The first metamorphic rocks noticed (towards tlie northwest), are 
the beds of crystalline white marble with accompanying hydro- 
mica schists. These form the northwestern boundary of the re- 
gion. There seems to be very little doubt that the marble is of 
Silurian age, belonging probably to the Trenton or Chazy sub- 
division. The belt of marble is found in this position from the 
Georgia line to the Coosa river below Talladega Springs. 

Continuing southeast, the semi-metamorphic slates and con- 
glomerate of the Acadian epoch — (Ocooe conglomerate and slates 
of Tennessee), are next encountered. These beds are estimated 
to be from 1,500 to 2,000 feet in thickness, and they are followed 
by a mountain-forming series of massive quartzites of gray and 
other dark colors. From the sides of this mountain issue many 
chalybeate springs. This is probably the metamorphosed Pots- 
dam sandstone. It is a watershed throughout most of its length, 
and is called in parts of its course. Blue Mountain, and Eebecca 
Mountain. Talladega Creek is the only stream that cuts through it. 

Succeedingthese, is a series of rocks including mica schists 
holding garnets and gneisses, which are often hornblen die. Hot n- 
blendic gneisses interstratified with garnetiferous mica schists and 
fine grained mica slates, characterize the northwestern portion of 
this belt. Crystalline masses of cyanite associated with hydrous 
micas and sometimes with graphite are not uncommon. 

Many of these rocks have undergone a thorough decomposi- 
tion in places, by which they have been converted into ferruginous 
stratified clays, in which the unaltered beds of quartz are promi- 
nent. With the above named rocks, occur steatites, chloritic 
schists and hornblende schist, and there is probably a belt of 
corundum accompanying. In this region also, are arenaceous 
schists with scales of hematite, a sort of specular schist, and 
micaceous schists impregnated with graphite. Tolerably pure 
graphite has been found in some quantity in the same vicinity. 

Next in succession are mica schists with garnets. In this belt 
the purple tinge of the 'decomposing rock, and the numerous beds 
or veins of coarse-grained granite, are characteristic. These 
granite veins occur in the same association from Georgia to Coosa 
county, and in very many places show traces of the ancient ex- 
cavations for mica, which in North Carolina, are considered as in- 
fallible indications that mica in marketable quality may be had by 
re-opening the ancient works. Indeed very fair mica has been 
obtained in Alabama, at very little expenditure. The mica indus- 
try probably needs only capital and experience in its application 
to become a source of fortune here as it is in North Carolina. 



144 

Next is a belt of fine grained mica slates and soft soapy feel- 
ing clay slates, often impregnated with graphite, and these are 
followed by a wide belt of gneisses and mica schists with a belt 
of what passes tor granite. The granite is in places an appar- 
ently massive rock, showing little, if any, traces of stratification; 
yet if followed either way across the strike, it passes into gneiss 
and mica shists. 

Hornblendic slates weathered into ferruginous clays, through 
which project the indestructible seams of quartz: beds of finely 
laminated mica slates, in some places almost flexible sandstone, 
are found on both sides of the granite belt. 

Most of these areas of stratified ferruginous clays with quartz 
veins, have been worked for gold, and there is doubtless yet 
much gold to be had from the still untouched quartz ledges. 
Through Dudley ville, in Tallapoosa County, southwest into Coosa, 
passes a broad belt of magnesian rocks, — soapstones chiefly, — 
and chloritic rocks associated with corundum. 

In Coosa County, the corundum has been altered so that 
beautiful specimens may be had of six sided crystals with a 
nucleus of unaltered corundum surrounded by a soft micaceous 
mineral. Another belt of steatites with chloritic and hornblendic 
rocks may be met in Chambers County, whence it may be traced 
northeast into Georgia, and southwest across the Tallapoosa 
river, a few miles north of Tallassee. 

Following our section southwestward we cross mica schists, 
micaceous quartzites, hornblendic gneisses, and crystalline dolo- 
mite to the line where the junction of the metamorphic and cre- 
taceous rocks is hidden by beds of sand and pebbles of quater- 
nary age. 

If we accept as proven, the assertion that all our crystalline 
schists are only the metamorphosed beds of Silurian age, we see 
in our section a succession of beds of Potsdam sandstone, altered 
into quartzite and granite; of Quebec shales and dolomite with 
its accompanying chert, changed into steatites, corundum, horn- 
blendic and chloritic schists, hydro mica slates and micaceous 
quartzites, which are sometimes true itacolumites or flexible 
sandstones. The limestone or dolomite of the metamorphic 
region seldom shows itself above the surface, because of the 
greater denudation which it has suffered, as compared with the 
more compact and harder rocks which accompany it; yet in some 
of the broad and beaultiful valleys of this part of the State with 
their rich calcareous soils, the underlying limestone makes itself 
known. The shales of the Cincinnati group would appear as 



145 

gneisses, hornblendic gneisses, and graphite bearingslates, in the 
metamorphic region — and the purer limestones of the Trenton 
group would be found as beds of crystalline marble. 

As has been said above, the transition from the unchanged 
sediments of the Potsdam, Oalciferous, Quebec ages, &c., into 
their metamorphosed equivalents, has not been followed out in 
this State with such completeness as to justify the unqualified 
assertion that the metamorphic schists are only changed Silurian 
strata. Still this equivalence is tolerably well made out in some' 
instances, and it may not be impossible to establish it with regard 
to most of the strata in question. 

Throughout the area of crystalline schists, as in the non-crys- 
talline region northwest of it, the prevailing dip of the rocks is 
towards the southeast. This uniformity of dip, has probably 
been brought about by a series of faults or dislocations, by 
which the strata have been broken apart in bending, and the 
rocks on one side brought up to a higher geological level. 
Along the several lines the bending has not been attended with 
the fracturing of the strata, and the folds are easily recognizable 
as anticlinal (where the strata have been lifted up into a fold with 
the slope each way from a central line), — and as synclinal (wbere 
the dip is on both sides towards a central line). The synclinal is 
simply the trough between the folds, the anticlinal, the crest of 
the fold. 

A synclinal and anticlinal are crossed a few miles southeast 
from Dudleyville, Tallapoosa County. The soapstone belt in the 
lower part of Chambers County, and near Tallassee, marks very 
nearly the line of another synclinal; whilst at Chewacla, and 
below Auburn, in Lee County, another anticlinal is seen in the 
micaceous quartzite, and hornblendic gneisses of that belt. 
Other unbroken folds will probably be detected upon closer 
study of the region. 

It needs scarcly to be stated that the crests of the folds have 
long since been removed by denudation, and that the presence of 
anticlinals and synclinals is revealed by the varying dips of the 
outcropping edges of the beds. 

From what was said in the general remarks, it will be under- 
stood that the trend or direction of the folds, or of the denuded 
and exposed edges of the strata, is approximately parallel to the 
shore line of the Atlantic, or in general, northeast and southwest. 

Minerals and Economic Materials. 
Building Stones. In the granites, gneisses, hornblendic gneisses, 



146 

&c., of this region, we find excellent building material. Mr. Sam 
Graham's quarry, near Bradford, Ooosa county, has famished 
some very superior granite. This quarry has been worked, per- 
haps, more extensively than any other, yet there are many locali- 
ties in the granite belt where the best material can be had. No 
railroad, exce;>t the Memphis and Savannah, crosses this belt, so 
that the granite is, comparatively speaking, as yet untouched. 
The factory at Tallassee is built of gneiss, the lime kilns at Ohe- 
wacla, of hornblendic gneiss ; but lack of transportation has 
stood in the way of any exportation of the building stones of this 
region. 

For Millstones, the same rocks have been much used, and in 
several localities along the granite belt, millstones have been 
regularly manufactured, for the market. 

Marbles. IsTear Talladega and Syllacauga, marble quarries 
have been much worked in the past; but there seems to be little 
doing there now. The quality of the Talladega marble is well 
known, and the future will doubtless see it extensively utilized. 
All along the northwestern limit of the metamorphic region, this 
bed of crystalline limestone may be found, in some places pure 
white color, and in others, clouded. The quarries mentioned 
above are the only ones where much work has been done. 

Dolomites. In Lee county, there is an occurrence of white 
crystalline Dolomite (a mixture of the carbonates of lime and 
magnesia). This is in appearance much like white marble, and it 
might be used for gravestones, and mantels, although rather 
coarse grained. 

Material for Lime Burning. Both the limestones aud dolo- 
mites are well suited to this purpose. The dolomite of Chewacla 
kilns in Lee county, yields a most excellent lime. IsTear Syllacauga 
in Talladega county, a bed of calcite has been worked for the pur- 
pose, and many other localities might be cited. 

Soapstone. Several belts of this rock traverse our metamor- 
phic region from Georgia southwest to the Ooosa Eiver. Many 
old excavations, fragments of broken utensils, and traces on the 
rock from which such utensils have been cut, show that the soap- 
stone was much used by the Indians. In Chambers county, it is 
worked up into monuments, headstones, &c., at the mill of Mr. 
William Jackson. As a fire-proof stone it answers well where 
the heat is not too great. At the Ohewacla works it is used as a 
lining for the lime kilns, and is considered equal to the New Jer- 
sey fire-brick. Care must be taken, however, to cut the blocks 
so as to present a cross section of the grain to the fire — other- 



'47 

wise it flakes oflF. In Alabama, soapstone has found very limited 
use, but its application in the arts are manifold. It is highly rec- 
ommended for the floors of bake ovens. 

For the Manufacture of Glass and Porcelain. A good bed of 
porcelain clay near Louina, Randolph county, was noticed by 
Prof. Tuomey. In many localities on the granite belt the decom- 
position of the feldspar has produced some very fine white clay 
kaolin. Kear Socopatoy, Coosa county, and near Notasulga are 
two localities where it has been particularly observed. Some of 
the white friable quartzites, especially in Chilton county, would 
serve well as a material for glass. In other counties very pure 
quartz is also found. 

Asbestos. This mineral has been found in abundance in Coosa 
and Tallapoosa counties near the outcrop of corundum. Its use 
in fire-proof compositions, &c., is well known. The two counties 
above named are not the only localities where it may be found, 
for another corundum belt has been noticed in the line of counties 
northwest of Tallapoosa and Chambers. 

Mica. Mica schist with veins of coarse grained granite, oc- 
curs in several belts running from the Georgia line to the Coosa 
river. Along this outcrop are numerous ancient excavations, the 
large plates of mica about these pits have long attracted atten- 
tion. In a few localities in Randolph, Clay, and Coosa, some 
little attempt has been made to get up the mica, but no excava- 
tion of any considerable depth has been made. In North Caro- 
lina, old excavations precisely like those in Alabama, are eagerly 
bought up. Mr. Heep, the most successful mica miner in that 
State, assurred me that whenever he had mined in these ancient 
works, he has never failed to find the best mica. This may be a 
hint to those on whose land such works occur in this State. 
There surface digging will not be profitable, for it is probable 
that the ancient miners exhausted the mica near the surface. 
This mineral brings very good prices. 

Corundum. This mineral has been found in considerable quan- 
tity near Dudleyville, Tallapoosa County (see Report for 1874), 
but generally in detached fragments. Recently it has also been 
discovered in Coosa County, not far from Bradford. In this 
place, likewise, it appears to occur in detached fragments and 
crystals, many of the latter having undergone considerable alter- 
ation, and showing a six sided nucleus of corundum enclosed in 
a shell of a soft grayish micaceous substance. These alterations 
are very handsome cabinet specimens. 

The great hardness of corundum, fits it for abrasive purposes, 



148 

and the manufacture of corundum wheels as substitutes for 
emery wheels, is now a large industry. The Alabama corundum, 
from the ease with which it may be gotten up, should be brought 
to the notice of manufacturers. A crystal of corundum 50 
pounds in weight has been found near Dudleyville, and is now in 
the Cabinet at the University. 

Zircon. Near Bradford in Coosa County, occur Zircons, 
nearly transparent, very well crystalized and with a richness of 
crystalline faces. In the purest and most brilliantly colored 
varieties, this mineral is used as a gem, the names jargon and 
hyacinth, being sometimes applied to it. 

Graphite, — is widely dissemina*jed in small quantities in many 
of the metamorphic rocks, sometimes impregnating aluminous 
slates to such an extent as to render them suitable for lubrica- 
ting purposes. 

Tolerably pure graphite in good sized masses, occurs in mica 
schist in Chilton County, not far from Verbena. This occurrence 
deserves a more thorough examination, since graphite is a valua- 
ble substance. 

Gold. Most of the gravels and sands, especially of the north- 
western half of the metamorphic region, have been profitably 
worked for gold. The Arbacoochee, Pinetucky, and ChuMnnee 
Diggings, are three well known localities. A few quartz mills 
are now in operation, and there seems to be no reason why the 
working up of the quartz seams in this region should not be 
profitable. Among the gold mills recently, or at present, at 
work may be mentioned those at Chulifinnee, Pinetucky, near 
Arbacoochee, at the Haral mine, and at the Riddle & Storey 
mine, &c. 

Copper. The Stone Hill, now* Copper Hill mine, in Cleburne 
County, is the only copper mine where expensive works have 
been erected. At that place are several furnaces, &c., for con- 
centrating the low grade ores, which in the early days of the 
mine were laid aside as unprofitable to ship to Baltimore — for 
fuller information, see Geological Report for 1875, pp. 184 and ff . 
In the neighborhood of the mine are several localities where copper 
ore has been obtained. Other localities for copper are noticed in 
Prof. Tourney's Second Report and in my Report for 1874. 

Manganese, — is found in small quantities in many places, but a 
deposit of considerable extent is still unknown. 

Iron Ores. Magnetite or magnetic ore is of wide distribution. 
Fragments of this ore of large size indicating a good seam have 
been noticed in Clay County (for analysis, see Report Geology of 



149 

Alabama for 1874, p, 59). This ore compares favorably with the 
Eoan Mountain magnetite of North Carolina, and will probably be 
largely worked in the future. The inaccessibility of these regions 
stands in the way of the developement of the iron ores. IlJfear 
Wedowee, in Eandolph, in Chambers and Coosa Counties, &c., 
magnetite is found in considerable quantities, but no active search 
for iron ore has been made except in the vicinity of railroads. 

Hematite or specular ore is common in many of the rocks, 
but no large deposits of it are known. 

Limonite or brown iron ore is very abundant, in many cases 
as " gossans," i. e. the result of the decomposition of pyritous 
ores. Often, however, the limonite appears to be of different 
origin, as in Clay, Chilton Counties, etc., where it has been used 
to some extent in old fashioned forges. Most of the iron ores, 
except some of the limonites, are associated chiefly with the horn- 
blendic rocks. 

Pyrite. — Extensive beds of iron pyrites are known in Clay 
county, but they have not been much worked up. 

It may be proper here once more to call attention to these 
beds of pyrite as material for the manufacture of Sulphuric Acid. 
Most of the copper ore of the State is pyrite, with a certain per- 
centage of copper. In concentrating the copper, the sulphur of 
the pyrites is allowed to go to waste. In the English works, 
this is utilized in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, and the 
profits upon this alone pays well, whilst the copper and iron also, 
are pure gain. With capital sufficient to provide for the manu- 
facture of sulphuric acid also, the copper works might be made 
to pay a much greater profit than they do now. 

Butile, or titanic acid is a mineral of pretty general occurrence. 
Good specimens have come from Coosa and Chilton counties. Its 
uses in the arts are limited; but it is valued as cabinet speci- 
mens. Well crystalized specimens will command a ready sale. 

Tantalite. This rare mineral has been found for the first time 
in the United States, in Coosa county, near Eockford. 

The Coosa county tantalite has been analyzed by Dr. J. Law- 
rence Smith, of Louisville, Ky.. with the following result: 

Specific gravity , 7.306 to 7.401 

Composition in 100 parts, 

Tantalicacid 79.65) 

Tungstic " 1.10 ^81.62 metallic acids. 

Stannic " 87j 

Manganese protoxide 3.72 

Iron protoxide 18.51 

Copper oxide 89 

99.74 



156 

The tantalic acid contains Very little columbic"^ acid. 

This mineral has not been found in sufficient quantity to have 
had any practical use made of it in the arts. It is, however, much 
desired by collectors of minerals ; and specimens, especially of 
crystalized, wUl command a ready sale and a good price. 

The Coosa Valley. 

The wide limestone valley lying between the metamorphic 
area, on the one side, and the southeastern edges of the Cahaba, 
and Coosa Coal Fields, and Lookout Mountain, on the other, has 
received the name above given, the Coosa river running down 
its whole length. Geologically, it is the continuation of the 
Valley of East Tennessee and the Valley of Virginia. Indeed, 
this valley, which has been described by Prof. Safford, as a com- 
plex trough, fluted with scores of smaller Va leys and ridges, 
extends at least from the Susquehanna to Middle Alabama. As 
is the case in East Tennessee, so in Alabama, this valley has the 
Appalachian characteristics, viz : "It is closely furrowed with 
parallel valleys and ridges, all tending to the northeast and south- 
west." The main valley with the limits defined above, is from 15 to 
30, or 35 miles wide. It has, however, several outliers which will 
properly be treated in connection with it. The outlying valleys, 
are : (1). The Cahaba Valley, lying between the Coosa and Caha- 
ba Coal Fields. (2). Roup's, Jones' and Wills' Valley. (3). Mur- 
phree's Valley. And (4), the Blount Springs Valley, or Brown's 
Valley, which is only the prolongation into Alabama of the great 
Sequatchee Valley of Tennessee. 

We shall describe the?e valleys in connection with the Cooaa 
Valley. 

Stratigraphical Relations. 

To obtain some idea of the geological structure of this 
part of the State, we must refer back to the general remarks on 
a preceding page. When the Appalachian region was uplifted, . 
pressed into folds, and these folds in places broken, producing 
what are called faults or dislocations — that part of the region 
lying nearer the Atlantic coast was much more profoundly dis- 
turbed than the part lying further off towards the northwest ; 
and whilst in this latter part the strata were scarcely thrown out 
of their original horizontal position, or at most, were thrown 
only into gentle undulations, in the former part we find the rocks 
pressed up into folds, and in many places, these folds broken 



151 

along the crest line and the strata on one side of the break 
pushed up past those on the other, so as to bring to the level of 
the beds on one side of the fault, other beds many thousand feet 
below them originally. 

The line passing through Columbiana, Greenport, and Gads- 
den, to Georgia — or more accurately, a line running along the 
southeastern border of the coal fields—marks the position of one 
of these great faults, where the Lower Silurian rocks on the one 
side are brought up to the level of the Coal Measures on the 
other. 

Southeast of this line the rocks are Silurian, they dip gene- 
rally southeast, by reason of successive breaks or faults, i. e., be- 
cause none of the folds into which the strata were thrown 
remain unbroken. 

The chain of high hills or mountains running nearly parallel 
to the S. R. and D. E. E., part of the time on one side and part 
on the other side of the road, and close to it, dividing the valley 
into two parts, is of sandstone of the Potsdam formation. These 
mountains are usually lined on the southeast side by a strip of 
Oalciferous sandstone and Quebec Shales, which pass into the 
great Quebec Dolomite formation which is in this part of the 
State, some six or eight miles wide. 

Between the Potsdam sandstone hills and the Coal Measures, 
we find strata of the Dolomite occupying a large strip — and suc- 
ceeded by a narrow band of Quebec Shale and Calciferous 
sand stone, which are brought up by faulting to the level of the 
coal. 

We see, therefore, iu this Silurian area two great faults, which 
extend f&r many miles beyond the limits of the State. 1st. That 
on the edge of the coal fields, where the Calciferous sandstone is 
brought up to the coal, and 2d, that along the line of the Pots- 
dam sandstone, by which this formation is brought up to the level 
of the Quebec Dolomite. Without a figure or a map,* an expla- 
nation is difficult, but may be attempted by the following table 
where the formations are lettered and numbered as in the table 
above : 

14. Coal Measures (Hills.) 

Fault. 

3a. Calciferous Sandstone, (sharp ridge.) 

3b. Quebec 8hale and Dolomite, (Valley 8-12 miles wide.) 

Fault. 

2b. Potsdam Sandstone, (mountains or high hills.) 

3a. Calciferous. 

* The Geological map accompanying this book was ordered subsequently to the 
time of writing this. 



152 

3b. Quebec. 1 . 

3c. Chazy. V Valley, 6-8 mileu wide. 

4a. Trenton, j 

Fault. 

2a. Acadian, (mountain or high hills.) 

Metamorphic rocks, (mountain forming.) 

By this table it is meant, that in going from the coal fields in a 
southeastern direction to the metamorphic region, one would 
cross successively the formations, and in the order given above. 

On the southeastern edge of the Silurian area, I should have 
mentioned a third great fault seen in the table above, bringing the 
Acadian slates and conglomerate to the level of the Trenton or 
Chazy limestone. It is along the line of this fault that we find 
the bed of marble — probably the result of the metamorphism of 
the Trenton or Chazy limestone. 

As the greater portion of this wide Silurian belt is made by 
a single formation — the Quebec or Knox Dolomite — it is particu- 
larly rich in iron ores, (brown ore chiefly,) but the description of 
the ores will be given below under another head. 

2a. Outliers of the Coosa Valley. 

These have already been incidentally mentioned as (1) The Oa- 
haba Valley, between the Coosa and Oahaba Coal Fields. (2) Long 
Valley, which is known under the names of Eoup's, Jones', and 
Wills' Valley, and which separates the Cahaba from the Warrior 
Field in its lower part (Eoup's and Jones' Valley), and Sand 
Mountain and Lookout Mountain, in its upper part (Wills' Val- 
ley). From near Tuscaloosa to Village Springs, Eoup's and Jones' 
Valley is a single anticlinal. At the latter place it divides, one 
prong of it reaching up into the Sand Mountain, under the name 
of (3) Murphrees' Valley, whilst the eastern prong merges into 
the Cahaba Valley near Ashville, and into Coosa Valley further 
northeast. Wills' Valley begins near Attala, and extends north- 
east into Georgia and on to Tennessee. The line of the Alabama 
and Chattanooga Eailroad (now the Alabama Great Southern), 
follows this complex valley or series of valleys. (4) Brown's Val- 
ley is the Alabama end of the great Sequatchee Valley of Ten- 
nessee. There are other small valleys of similar structure, which 
need not be further mentioned. 

A strip of country from 35 to 40 miles wide, lying between the 
eastern edge of the coal fields and a line running from Tusca- 
loosa northeast through Blount Springs to Stevenson and thence 
into Tennessee, is made up of bands of coal measures, separated 
by these valleys, which are narrow troughs in which are exposed 



5^53 

strata of the formations below the coal, down to 3b the Quebec 
Dolomite. 

The explanation of this is simple. We have to consider all 
these wholly or partially separated bands of coal measures, as 
originally continuous, and horizontal in position. During the 
period of the Appalachian disturbances, these, together with the 
formations underlying them, were pushed into a number of folds 
of greater or less length, and approximately parallel, and having 
the general direction northeast and southwest. In some of these 
folds the strata were entirely broken apart and one side pushed 
up over the other, making faults. Other folds were broken only 
superficially along the crest line, as a piece of stiff pasteboard 
may be broken by bending it into a sharp fold. The cracks pro- 
duced by these partial breaks, afforded an easy channel for de- 
nuding waters, and in the course of time these waters have cut 
down and widened out these cracks into valleys, sometimes five 
or six miles in width. The denuding waters have cut through 
the surface stratum of coal measures, and down into the underly- 
ing Silurian rocks, generally as far as the Quebec Dolomite. 

Peculiarities of these valleys are, that they have been out 
down in the tops or crests of the ridges or folds, that the strata 
on each side slope in opposite directions away from the central 
line of the valley, i. e., they are anticlinal valleys, and that they 
are higher than the coal measures on each side, so that the 
streams that rise in them soon break through the rim on one side 
or the other, and flow into the lower lying coal fields. 

The valley separating the Oahaba and the Coosa coal fields, is 
caused by a break or fault. Eoup's, Jones', Murphree's, Wills' 
and the great valley running from Blount Springs to Stevenson, 
and thence into the State of Tennessee, called, in Alabama, 
Brown's Valley; in Tennessee, the great Sequatchee Yalley, — 
these are true anticlinal valleys; they occupy the summit of 
great folds, which summits have been removed by denudation, 
leaving only a moderately elevated rim of the hard sandstone or 
conglomerate, which underlies the coal measures, on each side. 
This rim is broken through in many places, by the streams which 
rise in the valley and flow into the coal fields. 

The strata in this whole region slope in general towards the 
southeast, except on the northwestern sides of the anticlinals 
where the slope is northwest: and even in these parts the south- 
east dip or slope often prevails by reason of the overturning and 
overlapping of the strata. Details concerning these interesting 



• 154 

points m the structure of Eoup's and Jones' valley may be found 
in my Eeport for 1876. 

A section across the Cahaba valley is as follows : 

14b aud c. Coal Measures, (Cahaba fields). 
Fault. 

3a. Calciferoua, (Knox Sandstone). 

3b. Quebec, (Knox Shale and Knox Dolomite). 

3c. Chazy. 

4a. Trenton. 

13b and a. Sub-Carboniferous. 
14a. Millstone Grit or Conglomerate. 
14b. Coal Measures, (Coosa field). 

In this section, the absence of the Clinton and Black Shale, is 
noteworthy. If they are present at all, it is only in a subordinate 
way, and so far as I know, they have not yet been detected in 
the valley. 

Another notable feature is the fault or displacement which 
brings the Calciferous sandstone to the level of the Coal Meas- 
ures. This great fault may be well seen at Helena. 

In crossing one of the anticlinal valleys^ above named, the 

following formations are met, in the order given : 

14b. Coal Measures. 
14a. Millstone Grit or Conglomerate. 
13b and a. Sub-Carboniferous. 
10c. Black 8b ale. 

5b. Clinton. 

4a. Trenton. 

3c. Chazy. 
Lower Formation — 3b. Quebec or Knox Dolomite, forming most 

of the " floor" of the valley. 

3c. Chazy. 

4a. Trenton. 

6b. Clinton. 
10c. Black Shale. 
13a and b. Sub-Carboniferous, 
14a. Millstone Grit or Conglomerate, 
14b. Coal Measures. 

In this section, two things are noticeable. 1st. The forma- 
tions are repeated on each side, the lowest formation being in the 
center of the valley, thus indicating its anticlinal structure, and 
2d. The absence of the formations between 13 and lOc, and 
between 10c. and 5b., and between 5b. and 4a. Some of these 
occur in other parts of the State, but the whole Devonian, 
except 10c. , is absent in Alabama. 

Lithological Characters and Useful Materials of the 

Formations. 

26. Potsdam Sandstone. 

The great mass of the rocks of this formation is madie up of 



tss 

fine-grained conglomerates, heavy-bedded sandstone, and sandy 
shales. It is emphatically a mountain making formation, some of 
the highest and most picturesque mountains of the State being 
made of the rocks of this age. 

The only material of economical value is the sandstone itself 
which makes a durable building stone. Many chalybeate springs 
issue from the sides of the mountains of this formation, the 
Chocco Springs near Talladega being a type. 

3a. Calciferous or Knox Sandstone. 

The characteristic rock of this formation is a calcareous sand- 
stone, sometimes thick, sometimes thin-bedded. The sandstone 
layers often alternate with others of dolomite, of gray color and 
rough surface usually. With the sandstones are sometimes asso- 
ciated shales of brown, chocolate, yellow, and other colors, the 
sandstones themselves having similar colors. These rocks form 
commonly sharp, well defined, roof-like ridges of no great width. 

A few unimportant beds of limonite or brown iron ore are 
found at various localities in this formation — but the great ore 
bearing group of the Silurian is the Dolomite. 

3&. Quebec or Knox Shale and Knox Dolomite. 

The bright colored, yellow, buff, brown and reddish, calcareous 
shales of the lower part of this formation are highly character- 
istic and easily recognized. The shales alternate with layers of 
limestone and dolomite, and the calcareous beds become more 
prominent near the junction with the Dolomite, a line between 
the shale and the Dolomite being an arbitrary one lithologically. 

The shales are found commonly as a narrow belt, adjoining the 
sandstone. No useful material except some small beds of 
limonite. 

The upper part of this formation is chiefly calcareous. 

Above the shales come beds of blue limestone succeeded by 
thick beds of gray dolomite, crystalline, sometimes sandy and 
usually associated with much chert. The presence of chert in 
the dolomite gives rise to the numerous rounded ridges which 
are characteristic. Where the dolomite is much charged with 
sandy matter it resists denudation and may be found forming 
small ridges, etc. The exposed surfaces of the dolamite are often 
rough with crossed furrows, as if the rock had been hacked. 

In the upper part of the dolomite are some layers of an im- 
pure blue limestone which has been used for lithographic pur- 
purposes with some success. 



The chert in angular fragments forms the surface over a con- 
siderable part of the area. 

Where the dolomite is free from the chert we have broad val- 
leys, characterized generally by deep red colored clay soils which 
are quite fertile. 

..This is the most massive calcareous formation in the State, 
nearly the whole of the Coosa Valley, with the exception of the 
narrow ridges of Oalciferous Sandstone and the sandstone chains 
of Potsdam age, being formed by it. Part of the valley where the 
chert predominates is sterile and not much inhabited, and tim- 
bered with pine. Other parts more calcareous, are fertile, thickly 
inhabited and belong to the choice farming lands of the State. 

The greater part of the outlying valleys above described has 
the Dolomite for the surface formation. 

Besides the lithographic stone, and beds of black limestone, 
with veins of white calcite, which can be worked into handsome 
slabs, &c., may be mentioned the following useful materials : 

Barite or Heavy Spar, is found in veins in many localities in 
this formation ; it is used chiefly for mixing with white lea^ to 
form white paints, as Hamburg White, Dutch White, &c. 

BlacTt Oxide of Manganese^ is a common companion of the 
brown iron ores. It has been found in some quantity near Wood- 
stock, in Bibb county, and also near Anniston, Calhoun county. 
At the latter place it has been utilized in the manufacture of 
spiegeil-eisen^ in the Woodstock furnace. A very extensive bed 
of this ore is still to be found. 

Galenite or Lead Ore. Kear Jacksonville, Calhoun county, this 
mineral has been found impregnating the dolomite. The locality 
was worked some years ago, but no paying vein of the ore uncov- 
ered. Fragments of this ore are picked up occasionally, in all 
parts of the State ; but such pieces have probably been accident- 
ally thus scattered. 

Limonite^ or Brown Iron Ore. This is the characteristic min- 
eral of the formation. Beds of this ore are sometimes found in 
some of the other formations of the State, but they sink into in- 
significance when compared with the ore banks of this great 
limestone formation. 

The ore is usually found in pockets or irregular masses, im- 
bedded in clays, generally of deep red color. There is no indi- 
cation of stratification, but the ore is as if dumped into its 
present position. Everything goes to show its concretionary 
origin, (see further Eeport for 1875, p. 23, &c,) 

Most of the ore which has been analyzed, contains too much 



»57 

phosphorus to be of use in making Bessemer steel, but for 
foundry iron, and commercial bar and rails, it is most admirably 
adapted. A few very ext^ensive ore banks, however, yield an ore 
with the small per centage of phosphorus which fits it for 
material for Bessemer metal. 

Comparatively few analyses of the ores of this State have as 
yet been made, and what will be the developments of the future 
in the matter of ores free from phosphorus, we cannot say. 
Most of the published analyses of Alabama ores will be found in 
the Eeports for 1874, 1875, and 1876, and in Mallet's Eeport in 
Toumey's second Eeport. 

From these, the quality of the ores may, I think, fairly be 
judged. So much for the quality; as to the quantity of ore, it 
may be stated in general terms that strings of these pockets of 
ore run through all the belts of this formation, from Bibb county 
to Georgia. In some places the pockets are small, in others, as 
near as TannehUl, on the Great Southern Eailroad, and east of 
Oxford, Calhoun County, and in many other places near the line 
of the metamorphic rocks, these accumulations of ore are enor- 
mous, making large hills from which the ore may be taken with- 
out trouble. Every geologist who has at all examined the ore 
deposits of this State, has been impressed with their great extent. 

It is customary to speak of these accumulations of ore as 
inexhaustible, but the truth is the extent of them is not at all 
known except in a few instances. In those localities where the 
ore makes the greatest show on the surface, it is not known how 
deep it extends. The pockets of ore seem to be entirely independ- 
ent of the bedding of the rocks underlying them, and of compar- 
atively recent origin, i. e. in their present condition. For these 
reasons I think the term inexhaustible ought to be used with 
caution, until as much is known of the actual thickness of the 
deposits, as of their superficial extent. 

From a carefully prepared paper on the Iron Interests of 
Alabama, by Hon. B. B. Lewis, read at the Blount Springs Con- 
vention, in 1877, 1 take the following tabular view of the compo- 
sition of some of our best brown ores. The analyses have been 
compUed from the Geological Eeports and other always reliable 
sources. 

Analyses of ores from Eoup's Valley, from average samples 
gave : 

12 3 4 5 6 7 

Metallic Iron I 58.75 I 59.00 I 40.27 I 59.15 I 62.55 I 58.01 I 50.68 
Phospliorus I trace. | trace. | trace. | 0.25 | none. | trace. | 0,12 

The analyses were made by Prof. Eoeper, of Lehigh Univer- 



.58 

gity, by Prof. Lupton, of Yanderbilt University, and by Dr. 
Drown, of Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, and are 
given in full in my Geological Eeport for 1875. 

The analyses of some of the Calhoun, Talladega, and Shelby 
County limonites, are as follows: 

12 34 56 789 10 11 

MetaUic Iron 159 02'67.71|48. 45147. 69160. 00148. 25]54.28]58. 89157. 99155. 20156. 19 
PhOsphOTOS I trace] trace j 0.04| 0.02| 0.05| 0.06| 0.13| 0.09| 0.06| 0.16| 0.05 

The first five are from the ore beds of the Woodstock Com- 
pany, and made by Prof. Mallet of University of Virginia, the 
rest by Prof. Britton, myself, and Dr. Chandler of New York. 

From the same paper I quote : 

In addition to these chemical teste, we have the proof of actual 
experience. At the rolling mills of the Central Iron Works, at Helena, 
iu this State, we have worked the pig-iroo made of the ores of Calhoun, 
Shelby, Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, and Bibb Counties, and have found no 
tendency to cold short. 

Polishing Powder. "Tripoli." The chert of this formation is 
found occasionally in the State of a very fine almost impalpable 
powder, when it is a fine substitute for tripoli. 

Springs, etc. Throughout this formation the limestone has 
been more or less weathered, and subterranean water courses, 
caves, big springs, and lime sinks are of constant occurrence. 

3c. CJiazy, and 4a Trenton. Most of the limestone used for 
lime-burning, particularly in Shelby county, comes from the Tren- 
ton or upper Ohazy — the absence of fossils rendering the exact 
determination of the age difficult. 

5&. Clinton. In Tennessee, this is called the Dye-Stone forma- 
tion, whilst in this State it is known as the Eed Mountain Group. 
It is composed chiefly of sandstones and red iron ores. A sec- 
tion of the ore bearing part of this formation was made by Mr. 
L. S. Goodrich, near Birmingham. He recognizes two distinct 
bodies of ore separated by about sixteen feet of sandstones. 
The uppermost of these ore bodies is about two feet thick, and is 
not known to hold any considerable bed of ore fit for use. 

Below the sixteen feet of sandstone, comes the workable bed 
made u() of seven strata of ore interbedded with thin bands of shale. 

His section, beginning at the top and descending, is : 

1. No. 1 ore..^ 7 feet, 3 inches. 

2. Trace of shales and pebbles 

3. No. 2 ore 8 " 

4. Shales " 3 

5. No. 3 ore 2 " 3J 

6. Shales.. " Of 

7. No. 4 ore 1 " 2 

8. Shales " \\ 

9. No. 5 ore 1 " 2J 

10. Shales " 2 

11. No. 6, ore " 11 

12. Shales 7 " 

13. No. 7 ore 1 " 3 



^59 

Below these are forty to sixty feet of argillaceous sandstones, 
followed by limestone of Trenton age. 

The ores from this vicinity are used by the Oxmoor furnace in 
conjunction with brown ore from Eoup's Valley. 

Analyses of the red ores from the section given above may be 
seen by referring to my Eeport for 1876, page 40, 

10c. Black Shale. From this formation spring most of the 
sulphur waters of the State, as at Blount Springs, Talladega, 
Shelby, Saint Clair, etc. 

13a and b. Suh-Garhoniferous. This formation presents two 
members, one siliceous, the other calcareous. The latter furnishes 
good limestone for limeburning, and also for mixing with ores in 
the furnace. 

Occasional beds of Umonite or brown iron ore are found in this 
formation; but most of the ores which have been analyzed show 
a rather large percentage of phosphorus. In other states sub- 
carboniferous ores are extensively utilized, but with us, they will 
scarcely be much used until the great beds of the Lower Silurian 
have been worked up. 

Kaolinite or Halloysite. A compact, moderately hard, often 
semi-translucent substance near Kaolinite or Halloysite, is found 
in this formation in several places, as in North Alabama, near 
Huntsville ; in DeKalb county, near Sulphur Springs Station. At 
the latter place the clay is mined extensively by a firm from Chat- 
tanooga. It is used for the manufacture of fire-brick and other 
articles which are to be subjected to intense heat. 

14a. Millstone Grit. A massive sandstone, or conglomerate 
which is found just below the coal in nearly every locality where 
the coal occurs, has received this name, which is here retained for 
convenience. The character of this rock (it is nearly pure silica,) 
renders it particularly fit for lining the hearths of blast furnaces 
which are exposed to very high temperature. At the Oxmoor 
furnace it has been tried with great success. For building pur- 
poses it would be exceedingly desirable, but for its hardness and 
the difficulty with which it can be worked up. 

146 and c. Goal Measures. The three coal basins in the 
State are named from the three streams which drain them, the 
Coosa, the Cahaba, and the Warrior Fields. 

The Coosa and the Cahaba Coal Fields. 

Whilst it is probable that our three coal helds were once con- 
tinuous, and that they have been separated by folds (since de- 
nuded) and faults, just as we see on a smaller scale, parts of the 



i6o 

great Warrior field separated by narrow valleys of Silurian 
rocks, still, since the Coosa and Oahaba fields exhibit the Appa- 
lachian characteristics most strongly, the beds being generally 
inclined at a tolerably high angle (35° or more), they come more 
properly under our middle or Appalachian division, whilst the 
Warrior field, as a part of the great table land especially in its 
upper part, with its almost horizontal strata belongs to our 
Northern division. 

Coosa Field. This field was formerly estimated to contain 
about 100 square miles, but the Survey in 1876, established the 
fact that it extends much further south and west than the limits 
usually allowed to it on the maps. Its southwestern boundary is 
in fact, about the line of the S. and N. Ala. E. E. from Siluria 
down to Oalera, and thence eastward nearly to Columbiana, and 
I may here state that the Carboniferous rocks are found south of 
the Shelby Iron Works. Very little is known of the capabilities 
of this field, beyond the fact that there are at least three beds of 
coal of workable thickness— (3 ft., 4 ft., and 3 feet 6 inches.) The 
Broken Arrow Coal has at least a local reputation for good 
quality. 

Gahaba Field. In the account of this field, I am greatly in- 
debted to Mr. E. P. Eothwell, and to Mr. T. H. Aldrich, for infor- 
mation furnished by them. The two sections across this field, 
which are best known, are (1), that along the line of the S. and 
N. Ala., E. E.;, and (2), that along Four Mile Creek, in the south- 
ern part ^f the Field. 

The section along the S. and N. E. E. is nearly as follows, be- 
ginning at Top — it must be remarked, however, that the section 
is only approximate, there are still many doubtful points : 

Coal. Conglomerate Top Seam, irregular and 
not workable on S. and N. R. R., but fur- 
ther south it grows better, and increases in 
thickness to 3 feet. One or two other seams 
come in above it. lower down (south) in the 
field 2 

Sandstones, Shales, etc «....» 115 

Coal. Helena Seam, 4 

Shales, and Sandstones 79 

Conglomerate 50 

Coal. Conglom,erate Seam, 3 

Sandstones, etc 65 

Coal. Small seam, not much known 

Sandstones, Shales, etc 57 

Coal. Small seam, not much known 

Sandstones, Shales, etc 59 

Coal. Little Pittsburg Seam, 2 

Shales, Sandstones, etc 28 

Coal. MoylQ Seam 2 

Sandstones, Shales, etc.... 217 



feet 


inches, 


(( 





(( 


(( 





(t 


11 





({ 





6 


>i 


(( 





(( 


11 





K 


II 





(( 


(( 





(1 


(( 





(( 


(( 





l( 


(1 





<C 



i6i 

CoAii. Black Shale, or McOinnis Seam 2 " 6 '* 

Sandstones, etc., with 3 small coal seams 125 " " 

Coal. Buck Seam 3 " 6 '• 

Sandstones. Shales, etc 215 " " 

Coal. Shute Seam 4 " " 

Sandstones, and other measures 45 " " 

Coal. Byram, Seam, quality of coal not known 2 " 6 " 

Sandstones, Shales, etc '. 130 " 

Coal. Cahaba Seam, { Wadsworth Seam) 3 " •' 

Sandstones, Shales, etc... 30 " ', 

Coal. Whetrock, or Shortridge Seam 2 " 6 " 

Sandstones, etc., (about 125 feet below Cahaba 

Seam is a bed of Shale with marine fossils, 

an important horizon) 243 " " 

Coal. Of poor quality, but not much known 

about the seam 4 " " 

Sandstones, Shales, etc 500 " o " 

Coal. Very little known 3 " " 

Sandstones, etc 250 " " 

Coal. Gould Seam 3 " 6 " 

Sandstones, Shales, etc 50 " " 

Coal. Small seam, very little known 

Sandstones, Shales, etc., of the Lower Measures 

down to the ''Millstone Grit," thickness 

not known 

From Mr. Aldrich's article- in my Geological Eeport for 1875, 
and from other sources, I take the following notes concerning the 
seams above given : 

The Helena Seam. This seam has a good hard roof with shale 
bottom. The coke made from this seam is only average in quality. 
The extreme purity of this coal, chemically, together with its 
structure, warrant the conclusion that it would probably work 
raw in the furnace. The analysis is found in Mr. EothwelPs 
tables, (Eeport for 1875, p. 58). 

Conglomerate or Beaver Dam Seam. This seam was extensively 
worked during the war. The coal is excellent in quality, and 
occurs in a single bench with shale top. Thickness from three 
feet to three feet six inches. 

Little Pittsburgh Seam, was opened by Messrs. Eaney and 
Holmes. Analysis given in Geological Keport for 1875, p. .58. 

Moyle Seam. Opened by Messrs. Moyle and others, at the 
Southern Mines. 

Section of the seam is as follows : 

Top. Fire Clay. 

Coal 1 foot 3 inches. 

Fire Clay " 5 " 

Coal " 8 " 

Fire Clay 3 " " 

Analysis in Report above cited. 

BlacJc Shale Seam. This seam has recently been opened by 
the Eureka Company. In January, 1877, the mine was started. 



l62 

(Eureka No, 2.) Upon cutting the seam it was found to average 
over 4 feet in thickness. Their mine now is capable of a daily 
output of 300 tons, and as the Company are running a tunnel 180 
feet back to the Buck seam, they can soon, if needed, bring 
their production up to 500 tons per day. 

The slope is 24 feet wide, down 130 feet. It has two hoist- 
ways, pump way, and man way, and is now down about 500 feet. 
There are three headings turned oif from the slope. The coal is 
mined " on the run." It is very hard, breaks with a conchoidal 
fracture, and makes a good fuel. The average production of the 
Company is 250 tons per day. 

The large lump coal is sold for domestic purposes, the smaller 
sizes go to the coke ovens, and the fine and slack go to the wash- 
ing machine. 

The washing machine has lately been put up. The process 
for washing the coal is that known as Slutt's, with modifications. 
After washing, the coal is dumped into cars and thence carried 
to the coke ovens. The coke ovens are about one hundred in 
number, 12ft.x6ft., and of the " bee hive " pattern. The coke 
supplies the Eureka furnace at Oxmoor. 

The BucJc Seam is said to contain from eleven to twelve per 
cent, of ash, but is a very good coal for domestic purposes. The 
Eureka Company have tunneled back to this seam from the 
Black Shale Seam, Eureka Mine No. 2. 

Shute Seam. This is a double seam having a band of slate or 
fire-clay in the middle. It has never been worked but shows 
itself to be a good hard coal at the openings made upon it. 

Wads worth Seam. This is considered to be identical with the 
Cahaba seam. At the Wadsworth or Eureka mine, (No. 1) the 
machinery, shoots, and buildings are arranged for a very exten- 
sive business and are well worthy of examination. 

The coal is a fine coking coal and the coke is used at the 
Eureka furnace at Oxmoor. 

The Cahaha Seam is repeated three times by reason of the 
foldings to which this part of the field has been subjected. 

The Davis and Carr mine is upon the south dip of this seam, 
and the Cahaba mine, upon the north dip, the two openings being 
about one-fourth of a mile distant from each other, on the line of 
the railroad. The seam averages about three feet and has an ex- 
cellent roof. The Wadsworth Mine or Eureka No. 1, is some dis- 
tance from the South and North Eailroad, but connected with it 
by a branch road. 

Whetroclc or Shortridge Seam, is about two feet, six inches in 



i63 

thickness without any shale partings. The Eureka Company 
have tunneled back to this seam from their Mine No. 1. 

Gould Seam. The coal is in a single bench ; thickness three 
feet, six inches. It is soft, friable, and crumbles in handling, dull 
black in color, cokes well, is easily mined, but the roof is soft, 
and the seam irregular, often accompanied by considerable 
" mining." 

Fuller details concerning these seams, together with analyses 
of most of the coals, can be found in the Geological Eeport for 
1875, in Mr. Aldrich's article, and the paper by Mr. Eothwell. 

The new mine No. 2, of the Eureka Company, has been opened 
and the extensive works for washing and coking, have been 
erected since the publication of the last Geological Eeport, hence 
they have received a more extended notice. 

The section along Four Mile Creek, shows the following seams 
of coal — going from the Montevallo Series, northwestward : 

Upper or Montevallo Group. 

(1.) Two or three seams not much worked, 
aggregating about 7 or 8 feet of coal... 

(2.) Shaft seaoi 4 feet, inches, 

(3.) Cooper seam ....2 " " 

r4.) Dodd?ieam 4 " " 

(6.) Montevalioseam 2 " 6 '' 

The seams of this group are found on the southern and south- 
eastern edges of the Cahaba Field ; they dip at a high angle, nearly 
vertically towards the southwest and south ; but there is also a 
small basin, known as the Montevallo basin, formed by several of 
the lowermost beds of this group. 

The highly inclined series begins in the southwest quarter of 
Section 19, Township 22, Range 3 West, runs in a southwesterly 
direction for about three miles to the southeast quarter of Section 
2, Township 24, Range 11 East, of Lower Survey, thence due west 
for three miles to Section 5, then turning a little towards the 
southwest again, they disappear near Alligator Creek. A small 
patch of a still higher series, is found in Sections 5 and 6 of Town- 
ship 24, Range 12 East ; but these seams are too close to the great 
fault which cuts off the Coal Measures, to be of much value. 

Then follow several thousand feet of barren measures, in 
which no coal has yet been found, and then the seams of the 

Lower or Oahaba River Group. 
VIII. Seam 3 feet, 6 inches. 



VII. Seam, Thompson's 7 

VI. Seam, Gholson's 4 

V. Seam, Coke Seam 3 

IV. Seam, Big Seam 8 

III. Seam 3 

II. Seam 4 

I. Seam 4 



164 

The thickness of the measures between the various seams 
above named cannot be given with accuracy at present, and in ad- 
dition to the above there are probably other workable beds. 

Most of the mining in a systematic way, has been done in the 
Upper or Montevallo group. From Mr. Aldrich's Paper, Eeport 
of Survey for 1875, most of the following notes have been taken. 

Montevallo Group. 

Shaft Seam. This seam was opened by the " Alabama Goal 
Mining Company." A slope was sunk 175 feet ; at 150 feet depth 
headings were turned off east and west. Operations were con- 
tinued by this Company till about 1860, when various difl&culties, 
want of market, etc., led to the abandonment of the mine. 

Montevallo Seam. Most of the work in the Montevallo group 
has been upon this seam. Openings were made and worked at 
various points. Wood's Pit, the Fancher Pit, Irish Pit, Brown's 
Openings, were worked by the Montevallo Goal Mining Company, 
the Central Mining and Manufacturing Company, the Cahaha Coal 
Company, and the Mobile and Selma Coal Mining Company. The 
latter Company built a branch road from the Selma, Eome, and 
Dalton Eailroad, erected shoots, etc. In 1873, the mines at the 
Brown Opening were leased to T. H. Aldrich, who still continues 
work there. At present, no mining is done in the Montevallo 
group except by Mr. Aldrich. The amount of coal raised by him 
in 1877 was about 22,500 tons of 2,000 pounds each. 

Mr. Aldrich's mine is upon the Montevallo seam in the basin. 
A drift has been carried in 2,800 feet: at 1,300 feet from the 
mouth of the mine, a slope of 300 feet depth has been sunk down 
the dip. At the head of the slope a chamber for 40-horse engine 
and boilers has been cut out of the " solid" — communication with 
the surface being by a shaft through 130 feet of hard conglom- 
erate. 

In this connection it may be stated that 600 feet below the 
Montevallo seam, there is a bed of conglomerate 50 feet in 
thickness. 

Oahaba River Group. 

Many openings were made by the Confederate government, 
and other parties during the war, in these seams, especially in 
the vicinity of the river. No work has been done there since. 
The principal openings beginning with the southern-most are : 

VII. Thompson Seam. Thompson's Upper Mine and Herndon 



165 

Mine, one and a half miles northeast of the Thompson Mine. 
Near the Herndon Mine, openings were also made upon the seam 
underlying the Thompson.^ 

VI. Oholson Seam. Thompson's Lower Mine. Coke was 
made in the open air from this coal, and hauled to the railroad. 
A large amount of coal is still lying at the mouth of the pit, and 
the excellent quality of the coal is shown by the fact that it burns 
freely in grates, after years of exposure to the atmosphere. 

At the Gholson mine, and at several points further north, in 
S. 29, T. 21, E. 4 W., this seam has also been opened and worked ; 
the coal making an excellent quality of coke. The underlying 
seam was also worked at these openings. 

Y. Cohe Seam. At the Coke Seam opening in SS. 12 and 13, T. 
22, E. 5 W., near Daly Creek, a large quantity of coke was made. 

IV. Big Seam. This seam was opened by Mr. Geo. H. Gard- 
ner, on Little Ugly Creek : but the coal proved too soft to be of 
much value. 

The inaccessibility of these Cahaba Eiver beds has prevented 
their further development, and until the river shall be made navi- 
gable, or a railroad built through this region, these beds will 
probably lie untouched. 

THE NORTHERN DIVISION. 

This includes the Warrior Coal field together with its prolon- 
gation and outliers — Sand Mountain, and Lookout Mountain, the 
Valley of the Tennessee, and the outlying spurs of the Cumber- 
land Mountains which lie north Of the Tennessee. 

The geological formations represented in this part of the 
State, are, beginning with the lowest and leaving out of consider- 
ation the outliers of the Coosa Valley which divide the coal 
measures into bands or strips : 

4c. Cincinnati. 

5c. Niagara. 

10c. Black Shale. 

13. Sub-Carboniferous. 

14. Conglomerate and Coal Measures. 
20a. Drift. 

We may consider the northern part of this region as an eleva- 
ted table land of Coal Measures from which the Tennessee river 
by denudation has removed a vast amount of material, cutting 
down through the Sub-Carboniferous formation, making the wide 
and beautiful Valley of the Tennessee. On one side of the val- 
ley we have the very irregular rim formed by the spurs of the 
Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee; and one thother, the Eac- 



i66 

coon, and Sand Mountains, and the great Warrior Coal Measures 
of Alabama. 

The greater part of the Tennessee Valley is made by the rocks 
of the Sub-Oarboniferous formation, which are here, as else- 
where in the State, partly calcareous and partly siliceous, the 
the former giving character to the valley as a great limestone 
valley. The 6ub-Oarboniferous in the Western States has been 
much more carefully studied than anywhere else, and the names 
given by the Western Geologists are generally adopted. 

The North Alabama Sub-Carboniferous corresponds in gen- 
eral to Chester Group of the West in its upper parts, and to the 
St. Louis and Keokuk Groups in the lower parts. 

In Lauderdale county, the Sub-Carboniferous beds are the 
following, beginning at the top : 

f (3), Bluish siliceous, or Silico-Calcareous rock, often 

j weathering into a soft brownish rock. 
„ , p , J (2j. Bluish Siliceous Shale. 
bup-l^arD. , ^-^^^ Gray erinoidal limestone, (occasionally containing 

I seams and patches of flint). Near Bailey's Springs it is more 

[^than 100 feet in thickness. 

Below this is found the 
Devonian ■{ Black Shale, often including sandstones. 

And below the Shale 

f (3). A sandstone, never more than 8 feet thick, (age un- 
«iinH«n J certain). 
Hiunian. i (2). Gray limestone, (Niagara). 

[ (1). Beds of Cincinnati or Nashville age. 

The above section is from notes of Prof. Safford. All the 
formations below the Sub-Carboniferous are exposed only along 
the banks of creeks and in the ravines cut by them, in the ex- 
treme northern part of the State. They have therefore, only an 
extremely limited surface exposure, and need receive no further 
mention here. 

As a surface formation, in parts of the Tennessee Valley are 
found beds of gravelly material often cemented into a conglom- 
erate. These are referred to the Drift ; but are not to be con- 
founded with the angular fragments of chert or flint imbedded in 
red soil. The latter flinty masses have resulted from the disin- 
tegration of the cherty beds of the Siliceous part of the Sub- 
Carboniferous formation. 

The soils which have resulted from the disintegration of the 
rock are often excellent, having a considerable portion of lime. 
When mixed with organic matter they are brown, as is the case with 



167 

most limestone soils. Direct evidence of the derivation of the soil 
from the underlying Sub-Carboniferous rocks may be seen in 
many places in the Valley of the Tennessee. 

The principal useful mineral found in the Sub-Carboniferous 
formation in North Alabama is limonite or brown iron ore. This 
ore, here, as ia similar geological position in other parts of the 
State is likely to be too siliceous to be profitably worked, as too 
much care would be necessary in assorting the ores for the 
furnace. I have examined beds of this ore near Mr. John 
Caulfield's, and elsewhere in the vicinity of Stevenson, and men- 
tion is made by Prof. Tuomey, of a bed which supplies a forge 
near Eussellville, Lawrence county, where castings and maleable 
iron are manufactured. Another bed of ore of fair quality is men- 
tioned as occurring near Newburg, in the same county. 

Beds of pulverulent silex have been found in the western part 
of the Tennessee river. There is no material better suited than 
this to the manufacture of glass. 

The whole Valley of the Tennessee in North Alabama, is noted 
for the great limestone springs, caves, &c., which characterize 
everywhere, Calcareous formations. The Big Spring at Hunts- 
ville, is perhaps one of the best known, 

I cannot leave this part of the subject without referring to the 
Muscle Shoals in the Tennessee, which recent appropriations 
from Congress, will probably render navigable. 

The advantages to this part of the State, as well as to Ten- 
nessee, of a navigable river, as the Tennessee will soon be, can- 
not be estimated. 

The rest of our Northern Division with the exception of the 
Silurian anticlinal valleys before mentioned, is made up of a 
single formation, viz: the Coal Measures, and in giving an 
account of the Coal Measures, it will be best to speak of them 
under the following heads : 

(1). Spurs of the Cumberland Mountains north of the Tennes- 
see Eiver. (2). Eaccoon and Sand Mountain. (3). Lookout 
Mountain, and (4), the great Warrior Basin. 

(1). Spurs of the Cumberland Mountains. 

The great Cumberland table land of Tennessee is cut by the 
Tennessee Eiver, and only the irregular edge of it is prolonged 
into Alabama, as spurs separated by ravines and creeks : most of 
these mountain spurs hold one or two seams of coal. 

This part of the Coal Measures has been very little explored 



i6S 

in Alabama, but the following section by Prof. Safford, taken at 
Anderson Station, on the Kashville and Chattanooga Railroad 
and just within the Tennessee line will serve as a guide to the 
relations of the rocks of the Coal Measures throughout this 
region. 

Prof. Safford's section is as follows : 

(12). Conglomerate, coming in back of the top of the cliff 
formed by the sandstone below.. 

(11). CoAii and Shale : Coal, so far as seen only 8 to 10 inches. 40 feet. 

(10). Sandstone, heavy: makes the cliff : thickness, (estimated) 120 feet. 

( 9). Coal, from 2to5 feet of lustrous, black, good coal, more or 
less laminated by thin leaves of mineral charcoal, 
contains some pyrites occasionally in seams. The 
coal will perhaps average. 3 feet. 

( 8). Fireclay 3 feet. 

( 7). Shale .; 8 feet. 

( 6). Sandstone 10 feet. 

( 5). Coal? Sind Shale 10 feet. 

( 4). Sandstone and Sandy Shale...... 55 feet. 

( 3). Shate 1 to 6 feet. 

( 2). Coal, has been opened, a laminated, cubic coal, without 

pyrite, will average so far as seen, from 2J to 3 feet. 

( 1). Shale, with clay iron stones, followed below by rocks 
not seen. 

This section resembles the lower portion of Prof. Saffbrd's 
Tracy City Section, and has been referred by him to the Lower 
Coal Measures. 

Prof. Safford says : 

The second Coal below the Conglomerate (9) has been, and perhaps 
is now, worked at several points below Anderson, Its average thickness 
is considerably less than three feet. Occasionally it is above this, and at 
one point in Alabama, not far below the Tennessee line, it measured 
seven feet, soon however, running down to two. 

A short distance north or northeast of Stevenson, in Jackson 
County, I have personally examined an outcrop of coal which is 
doubtless the same as (No. 9) of the above section. In the local- 
ity in question, a bed of coal about 3 feet in thickness is exposed 
below a cliff of sandstone near the summit of the hill. This has 
been worked in three or four places. 

In Jackson County, four and a half miles from Boyd's Switch, 
on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, midway between 
Huntsville and Stevenson, the Belmont mines are now worked by 
Messrs. DeBardeleben and others. This mine is on one of the 
finger-like spurs of the Cumberland mountains which come down 
from Tennessee. 

A section by Col. J. B. Killebrew, of Nashville, of the meas- 



ures in Crow Creek and Battle Creek valleys, i^ given, which he 
considers in its general features the same as that at Belmont : 

f Cliflf rock, estimated 70 feet. 

I Coal, seam (opened).- 4 " 

I Fire Clay 4 " 

Coal Measures i ^^^^\TLT.^^^Z^JoL^'''^^^^^ ''''^ 9nn «< 

I or more seams of Coal 200 

Fire Clay and Coal ., 1 to 3 " 

I Heavy bedded Sandstone..... 25 " 

L Sandstone, concretionary 12 " 

a.,K n-.«u^„;*'^^^.,„ (Mountain Limestone 500 " 

Sub-Carboniferous.. |gj. Louis Limestone 100 " 

Col. Killebrew says further : 

But few traces remain of the conglomerate rock. It appears here to 
be a common sandstone, or has coalesced with the Cliflf rock, (the inter- 
vening layers thinning out) under which the coal is found. It ie a sin- 
gular fact that a seam of coal is always found under this Cliff or Fortress 
rock, and is always persistent. This cliff seam is the main ^tna at the 
^tna Mines, and the main seam at the Dade Mines. It is the most im- 
portant bed in the Raccoon Mountains, and has been mined at various 
points with success and profit, 

Messrs. DeBardeleben & Co. are having the property well 
explored with the Diamond drill. 

All the detached finger-like spurs of the Cumberland Moun- 
tains in North Alabama, that are of sufficient height include coal 
seams, and the height of these seams above the general level 
of the country renders the mining a comparatively easy operation. 

(2). Raccoon and Sand Mountains. 

Above Birmingham on Sand and Eaccoon Mountains, which 
names are applied to the high table land or plateau between the 
great Sequatchee fold or Brown's Valley, on the west, and Wills' 
Valley on the east, very little has been done in the way of ex- 
ploration. This plateau extends northeastward to the Tennessee 
Eiver west of Chattanooga. 

On the north side of the river it continues into Tennessee un- 
der the name of Walden's Eidge. This strip lying between two 
great Anticlinal folds, the Sequatchee and the Wills' Valley, is a 
sort of shallow basin elevated especially at the two edges and 
having "a plateau-ridge, or back bench upon it." I can perhaps 



ijb 

do no better thati give a section by Prof. Safford of the coal 
measures at the ^tna Mines : 

c_ r(8.) Sandstone, cap-roch of plateau-ridge, above the 

mines 75 feet. 

(7.) Shale 48 feet. 

(6.) Coal, " Walker Coal,'^ uniform, good, cubic 4 feet. 

g J Co.) Shale, including sometimes a thin eoal, from 30 to 40 feet. 

I ' (4.) Coal, "Slate Vein," including a layer eighteen 

inche? thick of shale and coal mixed., 5 to 6 feet. 

(3.) Shale 44 feet. 

(2.) Coal; Kelly Coal, good cubical coal from 2 to 3 feet. 

L(l.) Fire Clay from 1 to 2 feet. 

UppebCcnglomeratb, simply a sandstone here.. 75 feet. 

(4.) Coal, seam a few inches 

(3.) Shale 30to40feet. 

(2.) Coal seam, ten inches. 

(1.) Sandy Shale, from 100 to 130 feet. 

LowBR Conglomerate— doubtless coalesces at 
some point with the Upper Conglomerate, in- 
tervening layers thinning out, from 70 to 100 feet. 

f(14.) yS'Aate sometimes wanting, from to 12 feet. 

(13.) Coal, Main JSfna or Cli^ Vein; the most im- 
portant bed in the Raccoon Mountains; has 
a wide spread under the Lower Conglomer- 
ate or Cliff" -Rock of the Mountains ; is irregu- 
lar in thickness, ranging generally from 18 
inches to 4 feet, or rising in a swell six. seven, 
or more feet in thickness ; coal is of good qual- 
ity, not highly bituminous, contains but little 
pyrite, and makes good coke ; will average 

perhaps , 3 feet. 

(12,) Fire Cloy, indurated, contains Stigmaria, often 
with rootlets attached; has been made into 

\ good fire-brick 1 to 3 feet. 

(11.) Shale (?) 5 to 20 feet. 

(10) Coal, thin ^ to 1 foot. 

(9.) Sandstone and Sandy Shale. 80 to 120 feet. 

(8.) Shale to 5 feet. 

(7.) Coal, of good quality, usually too thin to be 

mined i to 3 feet. 

(6.) Fire Clay to 2 feet. 

(5.) Sandy Shale or Sandstone..., 20 to 25 feet. 

(4.) Shale 15 to 20 feet. 

(3.) Coal, lowest bed, like the last, and banks have 

been opened in both, from ^ to 3 feet. 

(2.) Fireclay to 3 feet. 

t3 L (1.) Shales and Shaly Sandstone 80 to 150 feet. 

Mountain Limestone Formation. 

I give this section because it is the nearest to the northern 
end of the Sand or Raccoon Mountain of any section that has 
come under my notice. It is probable that in Alabama, the sec- 
tion will be found to be approximately the same. The Cliff vein 
No. 13, above, is known to be very persistent, and is accounted 
the most important seam in the Raccoon Mountains. 

(3). LooTcout Mountain. 
Prof. Safford give a section at the Foint of Lookout Mountain 



171 

near Chattanooga, where the coal is very poorly represented. 
He states however, that following the Mountain into Georgia (and 
Alabama), several of the coals become workable beds. 

No section of the Lookout Mountain in Alabama has come 
under my notice, though workable beds are known to exist. 
Coal has been obtained from Lookout Mountain in Alabama, in 
several places in DeKalb county. The bed is 2^ to 3 feet thick, 
and lies directly beneath the Cliff Eock. There are several mines 
on the Alabama Great Southern Eailroad, viz : The Eureka 
Mines, near Sulphur Spring Station; the Haralson Mines, at 
Halloman's Station, below Valley Head ; and Hendrick's Mine, a 
few miles north of Fort Payne. 

Coal is also obtained in small quantities for local use in many 
other localities on Lookout Mountain, and also from beneath the 
Cliff Eock on Sand Mountain, on the opposite side of the valley. 

Whilst in Alabama the Coal Measures of the Eaccoon or 
Sand Mountain are very little known, yet the coal has been mined 
in an exceedingly rude manner in many places. On Short Creek, 
just above Guntersville, a section was made by Prof. Tuomey, as 
follows : 

(4). >iS'ands^owe forming good roof 40 feet. 

(3). CoAii of good quality... 1^ " 

(2). Vnderclay 2 " 

(1). Sandstone fovraing bed of creek 

This seam had been worked for the purpose of supplying the 
blacksmiths' forges of the vicinity. 

It is not possible at present, to compare as to equivalents of 
the beds, this section with that of Prof. Safford's, above. It is 
probable that the Short Creek coal belongs to the lower division, 
but whether to the upper or lower part of this division, is un- 
certain. 

(4). The Warrior Basin. 

Under this head is described that part of the basin lying south 
and southwest of the South and North Alabama Eailroad — the pro- 
longation of it northeast in Sand and Eaccoon Mountains has al- 
ready been spoken of. 

This lower part of the Warrior basin has been explored very 
little, except along the line of the S. and N. E. E , along the line 
of the Alabama Great Southern Eailroad ; in the vicinity of Tus- 
caloosa ; and to some extent in Walker county ; and in Fayette 
county, near the Sipsey river. 

The greatest amount of work has been done along the S. and 
N. E. E., and a section of the coal fields on the line of this road, 



compiled from all available authorities, will be the best introduc- 
tion to the subject ; after which are added sections as given by 
the borings with the diamond drill at Sulphur Spring Church, 
and Camp Branch, and finally a general section compiled from the 
drillings made at various points in the field along the line of the 
S. and N. E. U. 

Description of the Measures of the Warrior Field along 
the line of the S. and N. R. R. 

Starting from Five Mile Creek, five miles north of Birming- 
ham, the edge of the field is touched at Boyles' Gap. Here a 
high ridge running northeast and southwest forms a well defined 
boundary. 

A section through the rocks forming this ridge is as follows : 

Heavy bedded siliceous sandstone, " glistening," sixty feet 
thick and dipping at an angle of 28° to the southeast. 

Next comes a bed of limestone with Sub-Carboniferous fossils, 
about 75 feet thick, followed by another great bed of sandstone 
like the first, 120 feet in thickness and dipping about 45° to the 
southeast. 

This bed of sandstone forms the main part of the rim of the 
anticlinal valley, and where cut at Boyles' gap, through which the 
Eailroad passes, rises up on each side to a height of 125 feet. 
This bed of sandstone which is a good landmark all the way down 
the valley along the edge of the coal field, has been called by 
Prof. Tuomey the " Millstone Grit," which name has been retained 
in the Eepoits of the present Survey. 

Following the Eailroad northward, the rocks underlying the 
heavy bedded sandstone above described, are the usual sand- 
stones and shales of the Coal Measures, the dip to the southeast 
increasing till a point is reached where a dislocation has taken 
place, and the strata stand at an angle of 85°. Continuing north, 
across the edges of the nearly perpendicular strata, a distance of 
about 600 feet across the strike, there are evidences of an anti- 
clinal fold which is very abrupt, as the measures on each side 
stand nearly perpendicular, and even dip southeast. Crossing 
this anticlinal after going about 150 feet at right angles to the 
strike, we find a fault beyond which is the great basin of this 
part of the field. Immediately north of the fault the measures 
dip at an angle of 35° to the northwest, falling off to a dip of 13° 
in a few hundred feet. 

Several seams of coal are seen in the broken and upturned 
strata on each side of the anticlinal mentioned above ; they are 



173 

probably the lowermost seams of these measures but are too 
much faulted to be of much value at this point. 

The railroad, after entering the basin, follows very nearly the 
line of the strike of the strata for about two miles, the dip being 
from 8° — 15° northwest throughout this distance : then a fold in 
the rocks brings to the surface the " Warrior," " Black Creek," 
and "Jefferson" Seams of coal. 

The openings of the Coalburg Mining Company, Thos. Sharp, 
Superintendent, are situated here. The slope is about 350 feet 
deep and is sunk upon the Black Creek seam, though some doubt 
seems to exist here as to which seam should bear the name of 
Black Creek. 

The section in the vicinity of the slope would be as follows : 

(11). Shale and Sandstones. ........ 75 feet, 00 inches. 

(10). Coal, (bauds of Slate) ...00 " 20 

( 9). Slate 40 " 00 

(8). Coal 00 " 12 

( 7). Slate .....00 " 10 

( 6). CoAii , 00 " 12 

(5). Sandstone 14 " 00 

(4). Coal, (good) 00 " 16 

( 3). Slates and Sandstones... 35 " 00 

( 2). Coal 19 to 24 inches. Black Creek Seam. 

( 1). Sandstones, &c 



I Jefferson Seam. 
Unknown Seam. 



Underneath the Black Creek seam the measures rise rapidly 
to about 70°, falling off to the old dip of 13°— 15°. 

The slope at Coalburg starts at a dip of about 35° and soon 
falls off to the very low one of 8°, 



The Railroad continues still nearly on the strike of the 
strata, for three miles, to the Newcastle Station, where the mines 
of the Newcastle Company, Jno. T. Milner, Superintendent, are 
situated. 

A section of the measures at this point, compiled from bor- 
ings and other data, is nearly as follows, beginning above : 

Coal 5 feet 8 inches. Newcastle Seam. 

Sandstone 15 

Coal 

Fire Clay 3 

Sandstone 20 

Coal 2 

Sandstone 25 

Blackband Iron Obe 1 

Sandstone , 20 



ee 


t 8 inches 









22 














6 









4 








174 

Coal 4 feet 9 inches. 

Sandstone..- 25 " " 

CONGLOMEKATE 16 " " 

Sandstones 130 " " 

Coal , "18 " 

Sandstones 50 " " 

Coal, [Slate in the middle].. 2 " 2 " Jefferson Seam. 

Sandstones ..,., 9 " " 

Coal , , 1 " 6 " 

Sandstones...... 4 " '* 

Coal " 9 

Sandstone 50 " 

Coal 2 " 4 " Black Creek Seam. 

Sandstone. 

The Newcastle Seam may be seen outcropping on the west 
side of the little valley. The bed dips about 5° to northwest. 

At present, work in the Newcastle Seam is suspended. 

An analysis of coal from this seam, by Dr. Otto Wuth, of 
Pittsburgh, may be found in my Report for 1875, page 63. 

When washed, this coal makes an excellent Coke ; other de- 
tails concerning this mine are given in the Eeport for 1875, 
page 39. 

The Black Greek Seam is that one which is worked now at 
Newcastle. This seam is reached from the Eailroad by a tram- 
way, 1,200 feet in length. The average thickness of the seam is 
about 32-33 inches, and the dip like that of the Newcastle 
Seam, 5° to the northwest. The seam is underlaid by fire clay; the 
roof is also fire clay and is noted for the beautiful fern impres- 
sions contained in it. 

Analysis of Black Creek Coal, by Prof. N. T. Lupton : 

Specific gravity 1.29 

Moisture 1.36 

Volatile matter ...31.79 

Fixed Carbon 64.71 

Ash 1.82 

Sulphur , 32 

The evaporating power of the coal, from experiments made 
in Louisville, Ky., is 8.01 lbs. of water to the pound of coal. 

As a gas coal, a statement from Geo. H. Wells, of Nashville, 
now before me, shows a yield of 4.82 cubic feet of gas per pound 
of coal, and a yield of 33i bushels of screened coke per ton. 
The output of this mine is 100 tons per day. 

The seam of black band iron ore seen in the above section is 
worthy of notice. It outcrops close to the railroad, a short dis- 
tance north of the station. 

A quarter of a mile above Newcastle Station, there is a great 
fault, 800 feet or more in width, and having one east and west di- 
rection. Nothing is known of the relations of this fault to the 



^75 

great field, except that it has been traced several miles from the 
road. 

Crossing this fault, we are in the central part of the basin. 
The rocks here are perfectly horizontal for several miles, and no 
developments have been made. 

At Jefferson Mines, 10 miles above Newcastle Mines, is the 
shaft of the Jefferson Coal Company, Marshall Morris, Superin- 
tendent. This shaft is 200 feet in depth, starting above the Con- 
glomerate, (of the above section) and passing through the Jeffer- 
son seam and down to the Black Creek. A section of the shaft 
is about as follows, beginning above : 

Coal, poor, full of slate 4 feet, 9 inches. 

Clays and sands 21 " 1 " 

CONGLOMEKATE 16 " " 

Slate 1 " 

Coal with shale 1 " 6 " 

Sandstones, clay and shales... 81 " 10 " 

Coal, good hard 1 " 6 " 

Sandstones 40 " 6 " 

Coal, good... 3 " 3 " Jeflferson Seam. 

Sandstones 29 " 5 " 

Coal, good 2 " 6 " Black Creek Seam. 

Sandstones 

The Jefferson Seam in the shaft, shows a thickness of 40 inches 
and has a good roof. 

The Black Creek Seam is more irregular, running from two and 
one-half to three and one-half feet, but has no shale partings, and 
is said to be at this point the best iron-making coal yet found on 
the road. The Eureka Company is using a considerable quantity 
of this coal in their furnaces. 



Half a mile north of tbis mine, the Warrior River is crossed 
by the raUroad, and beyond the river begins the northwest side 
or edge of the basin. Here the measures rise about two feet in 
one hundred, up to Warrior Station, 4 miles north of the river. 

At this point the Warrior seam is extensively worked by Mr. 
Jas. T. Pierce, and the lessees of the Alabama Mining and Manu- 
facturing Co., Mr. Frank Hoene, Superintendent. 

The section at this point as given by borings, is : 

Sandstones and clays, with fossils.. 85 feet, inches. 

Coal 1 " 2 «' 

Sandstones, etc 30 " " 

Cannel Coal AND Bl'ck Band.... 2 " 4 " 

Coal, average thickness 2 " 9 " Warrior Seam. 

Clays, sands, etc 



176 

The strata under the Warrior seam are given below in the gen- 
eral section of the field as compiled from borings. 

The seam dips very slightly, and drifts are run in all along the 
outcrop. The coal is an excellent one and is used by the railroad 
company in their engines. 

Mr. Jas. T. Pierce works one shaft with capacity of 100 tons 
per day, and four slopes capable of an output of 150 tons per 
day. 

The Alabama Mining and Manufacturing Company, Mr. Hoene, 
Superintendent, work three openings with one main entry and 
several east and west entries. Capacity of the mines, 120 to 150 
tons daily. From the mouth of the entry the coal is hauled by 
steam power up an incline, and thence by a tramway one-eighth 
of a mile long to the weighing house : it is then dumped directly 
upon the cars of the S. and N. E. E., near the station. 

The coal enjoys an excellent reputation, especially for domestic 
and steam purposes. The seam averages about 3 feet in thick- 
ness, the dip about 18 . in 100 to southeast. Eoof, hard slate 
about 4 feet thick, above which is the stratum of black band and 
coal, 2 feet 6 inches thick. Above the black band is sandstone. 
Below the coal is fireclay, 4 feet thick, the first foot gritty, the 
rest good clay. 

The boring above given, does not show the slate between the 
black band and the Warrior Seam. 



Going north of Pierce's Station, where the outcroppings of the 
Warrior seam rise to the surface, we cross a long series of sand- 
stones and shales to Eeid's Gap, where the glistening siliceous sand- 
stone, called Millstone Grit, and the other accompanying strata 
are repeated, and we come then to the Valley of Blount Springs, 
(Brown's Valley). 

The dip is slight to the southwest from Warrior to Eeid^s 
Gap, and no large seams of coal have been found on this side 
of the basin, as they exist on the other side — west side of Bir- 
mingham. 

The great supply of coal in the future will probably be derived 
from the belt of country lying west and south of Birmingham 
and contiguous to the great deposits of iron ore along the line of 
the Alabama Great Southern Eailway. 

At a point seven miles west of Birmingham, Sulphur Spring 



177 

Church, a boring shows the section given below, the geological 
position of which is not yet definitely made out, though it is 
thought to be the upper measures. At another point ten miles 
west of Birmingham, at Camp Branch, another boring was made, 
also through upper measures it is thought, a condensed statement 
of which is also given. These two sections show the capabilities 
of the field in the immediate vicinity of the Eailroads, the S. and 
N., and the Alabama Great Southern. 

Drilling at Sulphur Spring Church, Seven Miles West of Birmingham. 



Surface Soil 2 feet inches. 

Dark Clay 3 " " 

Sandstone, gray with fossils 16 " " 

Clays 6 " 9 " 

Coal, soft " 3 " 

Sandstone, with pyrites. 6 " " 

Dark Limestone, seams of spar,&c 8 " " 

Clay and Sandstone 74 " 9 " 

Bastard Limestone 1 " " 

Gray Sandstone, with coal seams 

and clay 6 " " 

Hard Dark Limestone 7 " '• 

Sandstone and Clay (fossiliferous) 9 " 5 " 

CoAii, good... 4 " 6 *' Brown Seam. 

Clay and Sandstone 22 " S " 

Coal, good 1 " 4 " 

Fire-clay and Clay with fossils... 9 " 6 " 

Black Limestone, very hard 2 " " 

Clay, with fossils 17 " 3 " 

Coal, and drillings of Coal 2 " " 

Clay, with Coal and fossils 7 " 3 " 

Coal, and drillings of Coal 1 " 8 " 

Clay fossils 1 " 9 " 

Coal, and drillings, good 3 "6 •' . 

Clay and Sandstone, with fossils. 25 " •' 

Coal, sulphur balls 1 '• 4 " 

Clay, with Coal Plants, Sand- 
stones, &c 66 " 2 " 

Coal 3 " 4 " Four Foot Seam. 

Clay, with Coal, Sandstones, &c., 

with Coal Plants 25 V 1 " 

Coal 1 «' " 

Clay, with Coal Plants, Sand- 
stone, &c 44 " 6 " 

Coal, slaty and sulphury " 10 '• 

Clay, with Coal Plants ..2 " " 

Sandstone and Conglomerate 15 " 8 " 

Arenaceous Clay, 6 " " 

Dark Gray Limestone 4 '* " 

Dark Sandstone, with shells 20 " " 

Arenaceous Clay 10 " " 

Dark Limestone, with shells 3 " " 

Clay, with seams of sand, stones, 

(broken) 15 " 4 " 

Dark Sandstones, fossil plants 52 " 2 " 

Hard Dark Limestone 4 " " 

Arenaceous Clay 30 " 5 " 



178 



Drilling at Camp Branch, Ten Miles West of Birmingham. 



Surface soil and drift 4 

Sandstone and clay , 14 

Coal 

Clay..... 

Coal 

Clay and sandstone 6 

Gray fossiliferous sandstone 53 

Clay and sandstone 26 

Arenaceous clay, with fossil plants... 5 

Sandstone and clay.. 14 

Clay with seams of coal 3 

Sandstones, clays, and conglomerate .(7 feet) 229 

Coal, hard, bright, free from sulphur 6 

Fipe clay 3 ft., sandstone with fossils 5 ft. 4 8 

Sandstones, clays, etc., fossiliferous....... 87 

Coal, (struck a vein of in flammable gas) 2 

Sandstone, slate, and clay 51 

Coal, hard, black, glossy « 4 

Fire clay 2 

Clay, sandstone, and slate fossiliferous 26 



feet 



inches. 
4 
10 
6 
4 
6 


3 
8 

1 

4 









Newcastle Seam. 



Approximate general section of the Warrior Field along the line of 
the S. and N. R. R., compiled from borings with diamond drill in vari- 
ous parts of the field. 

Sandstones, upper partlaminated 25 feet inches. 

Coal 5 " 8 

Sandstone 15 " " 

Coal, poor 1 " 10 " 

Fire clay and sandstone 28 " " 

Coal 2 " 6 '« 

Sandstone 25 '• " 

Black BAND Ibon Ore 1 " " 

Sandstone 20 " " 

Coal, poor, full of slate 4 " 9 " 

Fire clay and arenaceous clays.. 20 .'* 1 " 

Conglomerate 16 " " 

Coal, with Shale. 1." 6 " 

Sandstones, Shales, and Clays... 81 " 10 " 

CoiAL, good, hard 1 " 6 " 

Sandstones 40 " 6 " 

Coal, good 3 " 3 " 

Sandstones, etc 29 " 6 " 

Coal, good 2 " 6 

Sandstones, etc....... 139 " " 

Coal, ? doubtful 1 " 6 " 

Sandstones, fossil shells 85 " *' 

Coal 1 " 2 " 

Sandstones, etc 30 " " 

Cannel Coal & Black Band. 2 " 4 " 

Coal, good 2 " 9 " 

Clays, sands, etc 20 " 5 " 

Coal 1 " 8 

Clay and sandstone 7 " 6 - " 

Coal, hard, free from Sulphur... 2 " '2 " 

Shale, sandstones, etc 295 " 6 " 

Coal, hard and bright 1 " 6 " 

Sandstone and fire clay 17 "0 " 

Coal „ 1 " 4 " 



Jefferson Seam. 
Black Creek Seam. 



Warrior Seam. 



179 

Shales with coal plants. 12 feet inchea. 

Coal, splendid 2 " 6 " 

Sandstones, clays, etc 102 " 7 " 

Shales and sandstones, with two 

thin seams of coal near bottom 

of series ...450 " " 

Siliceous sandstones (millstone 

grit) 100 " " 

r Shales 80 " " 

Hnb-Carbon- ' Lii^iestone with 

iferous ^ pentremites 75 " '« 

irerous. | GUgteningsilice- 

l ous sandstone... 60 " •' 

We have now to speak of the mines along the Alabama Great 
Southern Eailway south of Birmingham, of those in the vicinity 
of Tuscaloosa, and lastly of those in the interior of the great 
basin in Walker and Fayette counties. 

At Clement's Station, Caldwell's Station, Coaling, and one or 
two other points in the same vicinity, are mines. 

The coal is obtained by means of drifts, and is hauled in 
wagons to the railroad where the mines are not immediately upon 
the road. 

Near Clements' Station a seam of about thirty inches is now 
worked by Dr. A. Clements. The coal is said to be very good. 

In the same neighborhood Col. N. D. Johnson is also working 
a seam which shows about thirty inches of coal in two benches 
of equal thickness, separated by two inches of fire clay ; roof of 
hard conglomerate rock, fifteen to twenty feet thick. 

Other openings not now actively worked, are mentioned in 
my report for 1876. 

The outcrop of coal the furthest south of any yet known in the 
field is near Bowen's on Lie Branch, Section 22, Township 22, 
Range 8 West, Tuscaloosa county. 

At Ward's Shoals on the Warrior above Tuscaloosa, a bed of 
coal about three feet thick is exposed in the river at low water. 
About twenty-five feet above low water mark in same locality is 
the University Coal Mine, in which a seam is worked, about four 
feet thick, but with two or three thin bands of slate. 

The seam spoken of above, as exposed in the bed of the river 
at low water mark, may be seen in several places lower down the 
river, as opposite the mouth of Korth Eiver, near Finley's Mill, 
and it is probably the seam which is worked on the land of the 
Insane Hospital. No attempt at identifying these coal beds has 
been made, though coal has been mined in a rough way in many 
places near Tuscaloosa for many years. 

Messrs. Spencer & Co., in Tuscaloosa, have recently com- 
menced mining in a systematic way. They have worked two 



i8o 

shafts and probably have two distinct seams of coal. What they 
call the upper seam is above the water level in the Warrior Eiver. 

This coal is good for gas making and domestic purposes: 
Fixed carbon 52.16, volatile matter 43.09, ash 2.79, sulphur 1.33 ; 
but is to soft for shipment. 

The lower seam which is worked on the land of the Insane 
Hospital, is below the bed of the river, and is much harder and 
in many respects superior to the coal of the upper seam. 

The upper seam has a thickness of 20 t6 22 inches ; the lower 
of 24 to 30 inches. 

Messrs. Spencer & Co. have shipped one large barge of their 
coal to Mobile. Besides supplying the railroad, they sell also in 
the local market. They are at present building a tramwa-y from 
their mines to the railroad, and when that is finished they expect 
to ship large quantities by that road. 

On account of the small cost of transportation of the coal 
down the river in barges, it is probable that this will be the great 
line of traffic in the future. 



About twenty miles east of Tuscaloosa, examinations were 
made for coal a few years ago. At least two, and probably three, 
distinct seams of workable coal were there exposed, though the 
distance apart of the seams has not yet been made out. The coal 
from most of the outcrops has been mined for the lofeal market 
for years, and the quality is known to be excellent. 



In the interior of the basin in Walker county the Jagger's coal 
bed is said to be of great thickness, though special examinations 
of it have not been made. 

In Fayette county near the head of Sipsey Eiver, beds of 
workable thickness, yielding an excellent coal, are known. Barges 
loaded with this coal have been floated down to Mobile, meeting 
with very little obstruction. 

Mr. A. C. Banner, of Mobile, speaks highly of this coal, and 
it is probable that a considerable trade will soon be built up be- 
tween these mines and Mobile. Other localities for coal in this 
basin are given in Tuomey's Second Eeport. 

In conclusion I may say that except at a few points along the 
South and North Alabama Eailroad, the rest of the Great War- 



rior Basin is practically unknown, though from reliable accounts 
from widely separated localities, I am convinced that future ex- 
plorations will reveal in this field a wealth of coal of which we 
have now very little idea. • , 

THE SOUTHERN DIVISION. 

The limits of this division have already been given. It in- 
cludes the Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary Formations. 
The two first are the sediments in an ancient sea, which have 
been brought up by elevation of the land. 

After the Paleozoic Formations were deposited and the Appa- 
lachian elevation was made, resulting in the formation of the 
Atlantic mountain border of the Continent, the line passing 
through Fayetteville, Tuscaloosa, Centerville, Wetumpka, and 
Columbus, Ga., was approximately the shore line of the Conti- 
nent in Alabama. It will be seen by this, that the gulf then was 
much larger than it is now ; indeed, the mouth of the Mississippi 
was then near Cairo, and the lower half of Alabama, the greater 
part of the State of Mississippi, a large part of Arkansas and 
Texas, and the whole of what is now Louisiana, lay beneath the 
waters of the great gulf. From the disintegration of the Paleozoic 
continent and the washing of this miaterial into the gulf, sedi- 
ments were formed which afterwards came to be a part of the 
land by the further elevation of the continent. The emergence 
of the land and consequent receding of the shore line towards 
the south, were very gradual and uniform, and the remains of the 
marine animals, &c., inhabiting the sea during the period of 
deposition of these sediments, were imbedded therein, and where- 
ever found now by the Geologist, they are invaluable as indica- 
ting the age of the deposits. 

Bearing in mind what has just been said, it will be seen that 
these formations slope or dip away from the shore of the old 
continent towards the south and southwest — the dip is very 
gradual, about 30 feet to the mile in the older Cretaceous ; and as 
they were added to the firm land by the slow elevation of the 
continent and the receding of the sea, it needs scarcely be said 
that the oldest of these deposits would be that first emerged, or 
that next to the Paleozoic shore line, and that the newer forma- 
tions emerging later, are found further from this old i?hore line. 
An exception to this order is seen in the Quaternary deposits, 
and especially those known as the Drift. A belt of gravel sands 
and clays of width varying from five to thirty or forty miles, and 
of Quaternary age,, runs across the State from east to west, cov- 



i8l 

ering the line of junction of the Paleozoic and the Cretaceous 
formations. Other superficial deposits of this character and age, 
overlie points of the Cretaceous and Tertiary further south: but 
the belt spoken of is certainly A remarkable feature. 

A marked difference between this, and the other two divisions 
of the State, may be seen in the absence of the folds and flexures 
in the strata here. We find here no highly inclined beds, no 
folds, no faults, but only a gentle slope of 30 feet or less to the 
mile, away from the more ancient formations. For this reason 
our knowledge of the strata in any locality, in this southern div- 
ision, can be gained only by examination of cuts made by running 
streams, excavations for railroads, and from the records of the 
strata penetrated in digging wells, &c. 

Cretaceous Formation. 

The Sub-divisions as given above, are : 

Eutaw Group Lower Cretaceous, (18a.) 

Rotten Limestone, ") tt r^ t. r-iou \ 

Ripley Group .} ^pper Cretaceous, (18b.) 

The thickness of this strata is, according to the best authorities, 
2,000 feet, of which 900 to 1,100 are Eotten Limestone. 

The following brief characteristics of the several groups, I 
condense from the Eeports of Prof. Tuomey, and Dr. Hilgard, of 
the Mississippi Survey. 

Eutaw Group. Bluish black, or reddish laminated clays, 
alternating with or overlaid by, sands of gray or yellowish tint. 
Contains beds of lignite, silicified wood, sharks' teeth, and a few 
distinctively Cretaceous fossils. This lowest formation, coming 
as it does in contact with the belt of Quaternary age consisting 
also of clays and sands, is difficult to separate, in certain locali- 
ties, from the latter, especially since so few fossils are preserved 
in it. In fact, Sir Charles Lyell considered the pebbles, &c., of 
the Drift, near Tuscaloosa, to be Lower Cretaceous. The distinc- 
tion between the two was first made by Prof. Tuomey. 

Eotten Limestone, including the Tombigbee Sand of Hil- 
gard. The latter is made up of sharp, strongly micaceous sands 
of greenish hue, laminated when indurate, and cemented by car- 
bonate of lime. The Eotten Limestone is a soft, chalky, white 
limestone of great uniformity and thickness, (1,000 feet) passing 
into heavy calcareous massy clays, or light colored clay marls.' 
It is quite impervious to water and is perforated by nearly all the 
Artesian wells of the State — the water bearing part of the Creta- 
ceous being the sandy strata of the lowest or Eutaw group. The 



i83 

Ilotten Limestone underlies the prairies, and it passes upwards 
into sandy strata, exhibited well at Prairie Bluff. 

EiPLEY GrROUP. Hard crystalline white limestones (gene- 
rally somewhat sandy and often giauconitic), underlaid by black 
or blue micaceous marls, with beautifully preserved fossils. The 
Ohunnennugga Eidge in East Alabama, is composed, according 
to Tuomey, of beds of sand, loam, clay, and limestone, abounding 
in well cbaracterized Cretaceous fossils. At Eufaula, on Bear 
Creek, and Cowikee Creek, and other localities, the black or 
bluish micaceous clays, are found holding fossils which are per- 
fectly preserved, and fresh looking. 

Superficial Extent of the Cretaceous Formation. 

As has already been said, this formation extends across the 
State from east to west, having for its northern boundary nearly 
the line indicated above as the limit of the Southern division ; 
the southern limit passes near the towns of Nanafalia, Lower 
Peach Tree, Camden, Greenville, and Troy. The Cretaceous belt 
is thus about fifty miles in width. 

Useful Materials. 

These consist chiefly of Marls, Limestones, and Building Stones. 

The Eutaw GroxjP;, being made up of clays and sands, af- 
fords no useful material of the classes mentioned, and the same 
may be said of the Tombigbee Sand, except that some of the 
sands of this group are sufficiently calcareous to serve as fer- 
tilizers. 

EoTTEN Limestone. This group contains some clay marls 
which have been used with profit ; the Eotten Limestone itself is 
in most cases a marl, in one sense of the word. Analysis shows 
that it contains often nutritive ingredients such as potash and 
phosphoric acid, besides the calcareous part which acts mainly as 
a stimulant manure. 

The limestone has sometimes been used for lime burning, and 
with success, yet the admixture of other, generally clayey, matter, 
renders it necessary that care should be exercised in the burn- 
ing, and in many localities this admixture unfits the rock for the 
purpose. For building purposes the material is usually too soft, 
except for structures which are sheltered from the action of the 
weather. 

EiPLET Group. The marls are characterized by the presence 
of visible grains of greensand or glauconite, to which they owe 



tiieir higher percentage of potash, which is usually the measure 
of the fertilising effect of a marl. The greensand and the car- 
bonate of lime contained in these marls, constitute their value. 
The greensand grains can usually be detected by the eye. 

Dr. Mallet gives (Tuomey's Second Eeport) a mean of two 
analyses of greensand grains from a marl from Coal Bluff on the 
Alabama Eiver : 

Silica 57.56 

Alumnia » 6.66 

Protoxide Iron 20.13 

Liime 1.04 

Magnesia 1.70 

Potash 4.88 

Water 8.17 

Iron Pyrites, trace , 

100.04 

This will show the character of these marls, which, though not 
so rich in potash as some of the New Jersey marls, are yet val- 
uable fertilizers. The limestones of this group are often well 
suited for lime-burning, and for building stones also, when they 
are hard and uniform in their composition. 

Waters of the Cretaceous Formation. 

It has already incidentally been mentioned that the lower 
groups, Eutaw and Tombigbee Sand, especially the former, are 
the water-bearing strata of the formation, and in the region made 
by the Eotten Limestone recourse is usually had to artesian wells 
which go down to the water-bearing sands of the lower group. 
The water from these wells is usually highly charged with salts 
of iron, lime, magnesia, and soda. A well of this character at 
Livingston, Sumpter county, has recently come into notice as 
particularly beneficial to those suffering from dyspepsia. 

In the territory of the Eipley group, springs are abundant, 
and the sands of the formation are water-1b earing. The forma- 
tion is moreover, usually covered by the sands and gravels of the 
' drift in which there is no lack of water-bearing strata. 

Tertiary Formation. 

This formation has, comparatively speaking, been very little 
studied in Alabama, though certain stages of it have long at- 
tracted the attention of geologists, on account of the number and 
beauty of the fossils preserved in them. The sub-divisions given 
below, are substantially those of Prof. Hilgard, of the Missis- 



i85 

sBippi Survey, who has, perhaps more than any othet man, criti* 
cally studied the strata of this formation. 

SUB-DIVISIONS. 

1. LigniticandBuhrstone, J- Lower Eocene. 

2. Claiborne, | ^^^^^^ Eocene. 

3. Jackson, J 

4. VickBburg, I TTnnpr Eof«ene 

5. Grand Gulf, | U pper ±.ocene. 

1. Lignitic and Buhrstone. The marked difference in the char- 
acter of the beds of the lowest division of the Tertiary in Mis- 
sissippi and of those in Alabama, cannot fail to strike the ob- 
server. In the former State, the beds are made up of lignitifer- 
ous clays and sands with remains of vegetables ; and varying in 
color from black to brown, blue, green, yellow, gray, and almost 
white. With these, occur in places, small estuary deposits with 
marine fossils. (Hilgard). In Mississippi this division of the 
Tertiary is widely distributed, covering the greater part of the 
northern half of the State, and of considerable thickness — sev- 
eral hundred feet. 

In Alabama, a distinctively lignitic stage cannot well be made 
out, the lowest Tertiary beds being predominantly marine, with 
alternations of lignitic strata. 

Near Wood's Bluff, on the Tombigbee, a section, by Prof. 
Tuomey of the lowest Tertiary beds on Bashi Creek, maybe taken 
as a fair type: 

SECTION ON BASHI CREEK. 

5. Fossiliferous marl, with green sand, the 
upper part indurated forming a hard 
limestone surface rock, with numerous 
caves; the limestone and marl not dif- 
fering in composition 30 feet. 

4. Blue Sand Thickness variable. 

3. Lignite and clay 6 feet. 

2. Laminated clay, sand and mud Thickness variable. 

1. Lignite Undetermined thickness. 

Between stratum 5 of this section and the siliceous rock above 
it, to which the particular name of Buhrstone has been given, are 
about 175 feet of strata, principally laminated clays and sands with 
seams of lignite. 

Above this comes the Buhrstone proper, a series of beds 
consisting cf white siliceous clays with beds of silicified shells, 
also aluminous sandstones and clay stones with fossils. 

With these also are associated sandy strata containing greensand, 
the decomposition of which imparts to the soil a deep red tinge ; 
where such green sand beds occur, the soil is of course very fertile. 



i86 

The silicified shell beds are associated also with a conspicu- 
ous white stratum of nearly pure silica. (Tuomey). 

Such is in Alabama, the general character of the lower Tertiary 
beds; below calcareous and highly fossiliferous sandy deposits, 
containing green sand and alternating with lignitic beds ; above 
chiefly siliceous and aluminous strata with silicified shells, and 
occasionally green sand. 

The country which is made by the siliceous part of the above 
named strata, is rugged and broken, the hills attaining, in many 
instances, a considerable height. The highest lands in the lower 
part of the State are made by these siliceous rocks. Their thick- 
ness cannot now be given with accuracy. The name Buhrstone 
was given by Prof. Tuomey to the lower Tertiary beds which 
include the silicified shell beds. Whether his Buhrstone includes 
also the subjacent calcareous and lignitic rocks is not so clear. 
Fossils from the lower parts of those rocks collected by myself, 
are many of them new to science, and a more critical study of 
this part of the Tertiary wUl be of much interest. 

Prof. Hilgard is of the opinion that the lowest Lignitic Terti- 
ary strata of Mississippi,'are the strict equivalents, in time, of the 
lowest marine Tertiary, or Buhrstone of Alabama, since the Lign- 
itic strata are found outcropping between two branches of the 
marine Tertiary, and cannot, therefore, be anterior in time. 

In Alabama, as we have seen, the Lignitic feature is almost 
suppressed, whilst in Mississippi it is predominant in the lower 
Eocene and quite prominent in the Jackson and Yicksburg 
groups of the middle and upper Eocene, whilst west of the Mis- 
sissippi it becomes more and more pronounced as we advance 
westward, so that all but the latest portion of the Jackson, and 
most of the Yicksburg sea, appears to have been an intricate 
maze of everglades and shallow estuaries. (Hilgard.) 

2. Claiborne Group. This stage of the Tertiary is noted for 
the great abundance and variety, and the beautiful state of pres- 
ervation of its fossils. 

The strata of this period, as exposed at the Bluff at Claiborne, 
are, beginning at the top, as follows : 

SECTION AT CLAIBOKNE. 

6. Red sand, loam, and pebbles. Drift formation 30 feet. 

6. Mottled clay 8 " 

4. Limestone, with green sand grains 54 " 

3. Ferruginous sand and comminuted shells, highly 
fossiliferous — thickness not given. 

2. Whitish limestone 62 " 

1. Clay, with limestone on top 16 " 



■the section is taken from Prof. Tuomey's Report. 

The calcareous and sandy rocks of this group give gently 
undulating hills ; yet, throughout the whole extent of the Tertiary 
of Alabama, there is a superficial covering of sand, pebbles, and 
loam, (Drift, &c.) which not only fills the depressions of the 
underlying formations, but also, often covers the hill tops : indeed, 
in many cases the character of the scenery is more dependent 
upon this superficial covering, than upon the country rocks. 

Good farming lands are found upon this territory, and an 
abundance of excellent marls. 

3. JacJcson Group. In Prof. Tuomey's Report, this is classed 
together with the white limestone or Vicksburg group, though 
they are quite distinct. 

The lower part of this group is formed of 10 to 20 feet of sandy 
strata of bluish tint and containing green sand grains ; above this 
about 70 feet of soft yellowish limestone or indurated marl, con- 
taining a good deal of clay : at times, however, these strata are 
nothing more than a soft, yellowish, gray calcareous clay, with 
lignite, (Hilgard.) The clays and marls are the usual matrix of 
the Zeuglodon bones. The clays are often impregnated with 
gypsum. The Zeuglodon beds form heavy black, partly prairie 
soils. In Alabama they are associated, more or less, closely with 
the white limesone, though distinct from the latter. 

4. Vicksburg Group. In Alabama, the white Limestone of 
Prof. Tuomey is here included. Besides the white or orMtoides 
limestone, the other strata of this group are laminated clays, 
interstratified with sand, blue limestone, white marls, and yellow- 
ish calcareous sands. The upper part of the series in Mississippi 
often has gypseous clays with earthy lignite, resembling, very 
much, similar beds in the next higher group, — which is perhaps 
a continuation of this. 

The sandy strata hold the beautifully preserved Vicksburg 
fossils. The white orbitoides limestone, (so called from its char- 
acteristic fossil,) is well developed in Alabama, at St. Stephens, 
near Suggsville, Clarke County, and elsewhere. 

5. Grand Gulf Group. This name has been applied by Hilgard 
to "a series of clays and sandstones, the latter generally rather 
aluminous and soft, and of white, gray, and yellowish gray tints ; 
the sand being very sharp. Beds of loose sand are un- 
usual; but the clays are often quite meagre, though the sand 
contained in them (as is the case in the sandstones) is usually quite 
fine." These beds hold large quantities of gypsum and common 
saltj and also of magnesian salts. Carbonate of lime is a rare in- 



i8S 

gredient, and nd marine fossils have as yet been detected in tliese 
beds. 

This stage of the Tertiary rarely shows itself as a surface for- 
mation, but generally only in the bluffs of streams, the whole Ter- 
tiary underlaid by it being covered with the deposits of sand, 
gravel, and loam of the Drift period. So far as I know, the limits 
and characteristics of this formation in Alabama have not been 
accurately made out. What has been said, applying more partic- 
ularly to its occurrence in Mississippi. There is little doubt, 
however, that in Alabama it will be found to be made up of sim- 
ilar rocks to those in the adjoining State, especially since the 
westward extension of these beds over Louisiana has been es- 
tablished by Prof. Hilgard. 

Useful Materials of the Tertiary. 

Lignites or Brown Goal. In the lower portions especially of 
the Tertiary, lignite is abundant, and it has had a limited local 
use in forges, etc., especially when mixed with charcoal. It is 
not probable, however, that this fuel will come into general use 
for many years to come. 

In the upper Tertiary, lignitic strata are of occasional occur- 
rence, though not in so great thickness as is the case in Missis- 
sippi. 

Greensands and Marls. In the Buhrstone group a ferruginous 
greensand has been mentioned. The analysis of this substance 
shows that it will be highly valuable as a manure. 

In the earlier stages of the Tertiary, greensand marls abound, 
l^ear Woods' Bluff the experiment has been made of applying it 
to the soil. After a period of twenty years, the greater fertility 
of the spot so treated as compared with a neighboring field, 
showed sufi&ciently well its value. 

In the Vicksburg group are both greensand marls and those 
in which the greensand is absent. Calcareous sands also, valu- 
able as stimulant manure, are abundant. 

In Mississippi, clay marls of the Grand G-ulf age are of local 
occurrence, showing a large percentage of potash. Though the 
actual occurrence of such in this State has not been definitely 
established — yet there is little doubt of its existence within our 
limits. 

Gypsum or Plaster of Paris. In the lignitic strata of the ter- 
tiary and also especially in the Jackson and Vicksburg terranes, 
this substance is abundant, sometimes impregnating the soil and 
and forming the so called "gypseous prairies," sometimes in 



189 

crystallized masses and ledges of considerable thickness. Yery 
good crystals of selenite or gypsum have been obtained from this 
territory both in Mississippi and in Alabama. 

Limestones. The purest limestones of the formation are prob- 
ably those of the Vicksburg period, (white or orbitoides lime- 
stones) which yield a lime of very good quality. Other beds of 
local occurrence might be mentioned, and the indurated marls of 
the Claiborne age would make a lime suitable for agricultural 
purposes. Some of them would probably give very good hydrau- 
lic limes. 

Building Stones. The limestones above mentioned are, some 
of them, well suited for building purposes. The aluminous sand- 
stones of the Buhrstone group make an excellent building mate- 
rial, easily worked and sufficiently durable. 

The sandstones of the Grand Gulf period, are not fitted for 
building purposes, by reason of the large amounts of salts with 
which they are generally impregnated, which cause them to 
crumble on exposure to the air. 

Waters of the Tertiary. Generally good drinking water is 
abundant throughout the territory of this formation, since the 
gravels and sands of the Drift form the surface material — still 
there is no lack of so called mineral waters. In the lower stages 
of the formation " Sulphur water " is not uncommon. Two of 
the best known Sulphur springs- are perhaps Bladon and 
Tallahatta. 

In the Claiborne and Vicksburg territory, water is abundant 
and generally very good, but calcareous when derived from those 
formations. The gravels of the Drift usually cover these rocks, 
and wherever the Drift is found, good water is there also. 

The Jackson group is, in most cases, devoid of good water ; it 
is hard and gypseous, and springs are scarce. On this territory, 
however, cisterns are used, and sometimes bored wells. 

The sandstones, &c., of the Grand Gulf formation are too 
much impregnated with magnesian and other salts, to furnish a 
drinkable water : yet on this territory, also, the Drift forms the 
superficial covering, and affords good water. 

Millstones. The siliceous rocks of the lower stages of the 
formation have been used in this as well as in other States, as 
Buhrstones. At Tallahatta Springs, these millstones have been 
manufactured. 

Salt, has been obtained in large quantities from springs which 
issue from some of the lower beds of the formation. During 
the war, the manufacture of this indispensable article, gave em- 



ployment to many men, at the salt works near Baker's Bluff, 
near Clarksville, etc. 

Quaternary Formations. 

These are in Alabama, beginning with the lowest : 

1. Stratified Drift, or Orange Sand. 

2. Port Hudson. 

3. Loess. 

4. Yellow Loam. 

5. Alluvium or Recent, 

1st. Stratified Drift. Orange Sand of Prof. Hilgard. 

This is one of our most widely spread formations; it covers 
nearly all the lower half of the State and is found in many local- 
ities in the Paleozoic territory. 

^ The materials of this formation are pebbles, sands, and clays : 
the pebbles and sands often cemented by iron oxide into pudding 
stones and ferruginous sandstones. 

The pebbles are usually rounded masses of quartz, chert, 
sandstone, etc., varying in size from one foot in diameter, down- 
wards. 

In the main pebble beds, pebbles of the size of a hen's Q,gg are 
not uncommon ; while larger sizes are not as frequent. 

The pebbles often show evidences of their origin. Thus 
around Tuscaloosa, chert pebbles of concretionary structure, and 
with the rhombohedral cavities caused by the dissolving out of 
crystals of dolomite, (showing their probable derivation from the 
chert of the Quebec or Knox Dolomite), are abundant. Almost 
equally common are chert pebbles showing casts and impressions 
of Sub-Oarboniferous fossils. The conglomerates of the coal 
measures furnish also material for many of these pebbles ; others 
of chalcedony, jasper, agate, etc., are frequently found and often 
in very handsome specimens. Silicified corals and other Paleo- 
zoic fossils older than the Carboniferous, are also occasionally 
picked up amongst the pebbles. The sands are usually rounded 
quartz grains, without sharp angles. 

The clays are of rather local occurrence, as beds in the sands, 
though some of the clay deposits are of considerable extent. 
Most of the sands are deeply tinged, orange, red, yellow, etc., by 
the hydrated oxide of iron, which often cements the pebbles and 
sands together into a compact rock. The shapes assumed by these 
ferruginous sandstones are often fantastic — tubes, hollow spheres, 
plates, etc.; and their mode of formation is easily explained. 
The solution of iron filtering through the sands and pebbles, meets 



191 

with an impervious stratum of clay, and being arrested, grad- 
ually indurates, holding together the sands, etc. These hard ag- 
gregations are usually found not far from the surface, and very 
many of the hills of the Drift region owe their present height to 
a protecting cap of such hard ferruginous sandstone or conglom- 
erate. Kear the summit of any of these hills, will be found, usu- 
ally, broken fragments of these rocks, reminding one often of the 
remains of an old forge. Brown iron ore of quality good enough 
t® be used in production of iron, is not common in this formation, 
which in Tennessee and elsewhere, furnishes some ore. Gen- 
erally, the ferruginous sandstones are too deficient in iron and 
have too much sand to be used profitably. 

Stratification and Distribution. 

We use the term stratified Drift in contradistinction to the 
Drift of the E"orthern States, most of which under received 
theories, was dropped by the melting glaciers without any strati- 
fication. Whilst the Southern Drift is stratified, it is diflScult to 
trace any bed continuously for any great distance; the materials 
being stratified in the peculiar manner due to swiftly running 
water. Again, the Drift is not always found evenly deposited 
upon the older formations, the thicknes, indeed, is exceedingly 
variable. In some instances, a thickness of more than 200 feet 
has been observed. 

When exposed by washings of gullies, or other cause, the 
Drift may frequently be seen filling depressions in the older for- 
mations, which depressions — old valleys, washes, etc., were 
formed before the drift was deposited. Perhaps the same flow 
of water which spread these heavy beds of sands and pebbles 
over the State, may have been instrumental also in first denuding 
the surfaces upon which they were afterwards deposited. 

The pebbles, in beds of varying width, seem in some instances 
to have followed the direction of the larger streams flowing south- 
ward into the gulf; but a belt of these pebbles crossing Alabama 
and Georgia from west to east, near the line of junction of the 
Paleozoic formations and the Cretaceous, has already been 
spoken of. 

The sands have a much wider distribution, being found in many 
localities in the Paleozoic territory, and covering in general, all 
the newer formations of the State. They are wanting over most 
of the territory made by the Eotten Limestone of the Cretaceous, 
and also over the prairie regions of other formations, as the Jack- 
son group of the Tertiary — and likewise in the " Flatwoods." 



iga. 

Fossils, Origin^ and Beposition of the Drift. 

Mention lias been made of fossils of Paleozoic formations, 
also of pebbles formed of the Chert, &c., of these formations, 
found among the materials of the Drift. To these may be added 
the silicified wood occurring in many places in the Drift, and 
which has, without doubt, often been derived from the trunk and 
stems of the lignitic stages of the Tertiary, (Hilgard). 

These things, together with the peculiar stratification of the 
beds of Drift, leave us in very little doubt as to the origin and 
manner of deposition of these beds. Hilgard mentions some 
instances in which the beds of Drift differ from the beds of the 
formations underlying, simply in having been removed to a very 
short distance and re-deposited, drift-fashion. In general, the 
materials of these beds are coarser towards the north and along 
the channels of ancient streams. All these circumstances point 
to the agency of swiftly running water coming from the north, 
and bringing down fragments, including fossils, &c., of the more 
ancient terranes over which it flowed. Prof. Tuomey has sug- 
gested that the meeting of these waters with the stiller waters of 
the Gulf, along the old shore line of the Paleozoic formation, 
caused a deposition of the heavier materials, such as pebbles, 
&c., along that shore. 

That still waters, eddies, &c., intervened, may be inferred 
from the deposits of clay everywhere of local occurrence in the 
beds of sand, &c. 

In many localities within the State, we have direct evidence 
that the original channels of some of our larger streams, were 
blocked up by these immense accumulations of sand and pebbles, 
and the waters turned aside to seek some other way to the gulf. 
The abrupt turns in the courses of some of our rivers, may, in 
this way, be explained. 

Why the Drift should be absent from certain calcareous forma- 
tions, and but sparingly present in others, non-calcareous, — as in 
the territory of the Butaw group where it remains only as isolated 
knolls, — has not yet been satisfactorily explained. 

Hilgard's suggestion that the uniformity in the composition of 
the Eotten Limestone and other prairie-forming strata, and the 
great toughness of the prairie clays, &c., would tend to resist 
denudation, and to leave comparatively smooth surfaces, upon 
which would be formed very few inequalities to check the flow of 
the waters and cause a deposition of its sediments, deserves 
consideration. 



193 

Still, it must be admitted that many problems concerning the 
Drift of the Southern States, its connection with the Northern 
Drift and the Drift of the Eastern shores, are still awaiting 
solution. 

That the melting of the great glaciers of the North, furnished 
the enormous volumes of water which, ladened with fragments 
of the rocks over which it passed, flowed into the gulf, princi- 
pally in particular channels, in which the greater part of the 
coarser material was dropped, (these ancient channels being now 
recognized by the pebble, beds or streams, which sometimes coin- 
cide with the channels of existing rivers, but which are often 
independent of them) ; that the waters were not always confined 
to channels, but overflowed and covered the lower half of the 
State, outside of these main channels, with comparatively still or 
gently flowing waters, which carried along and deposited sands 
and similar fine materials: this much seems tolerably well 
established. 

Useful Materials. 

These consist of sands^ gravels^ elays, and iron ore. 

The sands are generally composed of rounded grains, and hence 
are not so desirable for many purposes as are sharper sands of 
other formations. 

Gravel. Pebbles of many varieties may be found in the gravel 
beds of the formation. Carnelian, jasper, agate, sard, chalcedony, 
&c., are amongst the most beautiful. 

Clays. White^ gray, reddish, and other varieties of clays 
suitable for various uses, such as the manufacture of coarse stone- 
ware, fire-bricks, &c., occur in many localities, as subordinated 
beds in the sands and gravels. 

Iron Ore. Brown iron ore or limonite is occasionally found in 
quantity sufficient to justify the working. The ferruginous sand- 
stones and conglomerates alluded to above, have brown iron ore 
for their cement, and occasionally the cement or brown ore 
occurs with very little admixture of sand or other material. 

Ore deposits of this character have been very little worked 
in this State. 

The ferruginous sandstone, which often assumes the shapes of 
plates, tubes, &c., finds occasional use in the formation of rough 
stone work — loater pipes, &c. 

Water. Wherever this formation forms the surface, good 
water may always be had, though it is sometimes not very avail- 
able on account of the great thickness of sand and gravel to be 
penetrated before it is reached. 



194 

The water of this format'on is freestone, though by contact 
with the strata of other formations it may become impregnated 
with salts, and thus become mineral water. 

The next three sub-divisions of the Quaternary formation, viz : 
tbe Port Hudson group, the Loess, and the bellow Loam have 
not yet, in Alabama, been .closely studied; their occurrence 
however, in this State, is similar to that in the adjoining State 
of Mississippi, where the whole formation has been thoroughly 
worked up and described by Dr. Hilgard. 

2d. Port Hudson Group. 

This series of strata, first described by Hilgard, overlies directly 
the Drift, and consists, beginning below, of Brown muck, and white 
or blue clays, with cypress stumps, overlaid by heavy greenish or 
bluish clays with calcareous concretions,— -and these in turn over- 
laid by gravel, sand, and clays with drift wood, leaves, and mastodon 
bones, and yellowish sands, &c., irregularly stratified. 

This is the principal part of what has been called the Pliocene 
or Coast Pliocene, (though not Pliocene at all,) and is confined to 
the lower part of the State, and to the wide bottoms of our larger 
rivers. 

The Port Hudson clays form some of the most productive 
soils of the country. They are stiff clays, with calcareous con- 
cretions, crumbling upon exposure to the air, and well known in 
the Mississippi and Zazoo bottoms as "buckshot" soil. 

3d. The Loess. 

The material of this is a fine grained calcareous silt, with 
calcareous concretions, devoid of anything like lines of strati- 
fication. From its wide distribution along the bluffs of the 
Mississippi, it is sometimes called the " Bluff Formation." Its 
thickness is greatest along the bluffs of the rivers, falling away 
inland to nothing. The only fossils found in it are the shells 
of snails and other land animals. Theories to explain the mode of 
formation of this extraordinary deposit vary considerably, the 
latest being that of Baron von Richthofen who has described the 
immense Loess deposits of China. According to this authority, 
the winds have been chiefly instrumental in moving and deposit- 
ing the fine silt of which the Loess is composed. From this point 
of view it is not easy to explain w^y, with us, the Loess is con- 
fined to the immediate banks of streams. 

The Mississippi has the greatest show of this deposit, it being 



^9S 

found on the bluffs of that river from its upper parts to the Gulf. 
In Alabama it has been identified by Prof. Tuomey on the Tom- 
bigbee and Alabama rivers in the lower part of their courses. 

4tli. Yellow Loam. 

Overlying the Loess we find, wherever opportunity is afforded, 
a stratum of yellow loam or brick clay, which, near the larger 
valleys, is often as much as fifteen or twenty feet in thickness. It 
is altogether devoid of stratified structure, as well as of fossils, 
and forms the surface layer, and in most cases, the subsoil of the 
Gulf States, (Hilgard). 

From its distribution and other characters, Dr. Hilgard 
regards this as an independent formation deposited after and 
upon the Loess. Its thickness increases towards the channels of 
the larger rivers, such as the Mississippi, Tombigbee, &c., show- 
ing that these streams had already impressed themselves upon 
the land, before the loam was deposited. 

The second bottoms or hammocks of most of our streams, 
which are usually not subject to overflow, and into which these 
streams have cut their present channels, belong to a period pre- 
ceding the alluvium, though comparatively modern, perhaps to 
what has been called the " Terrace Epoch." 

5th. Alluvium or Recent Formations. 

Under this head are included the river and creek bottoms, now 
subject to overflow, the soils, and other deposits now in process 
of formation. • 

These deposits would more properly be fully treated from an 
agricultural point of view, and for our present purpose a mere 
mention of them must sufiBce, 

Useful Materials. 

The four last mentioned groups of the Quaternary are impor- 
tant from an economical standpoint, mainly for the reason that 
they furnish some of the most fertile soils of the State, for a fur- 
ther discussion of which the reader is referred to the ensuing 
Part. 

Ancient Human Relics. 

" The relics of man, through which his geological history has 
been deciphered," are in this State chiefly — stone arrow heads, 
lance heads, hatchets, " chunkey," stones, sinkers, pipes, joints 



196 

of the steins of encrinites pierced so as to be strung as beads. 
Mounds in which have been found graven stone iinages, human 
bones, fragments of pottery, etc., mortars and pestles of stone, 
etc. Many of these relics, such as arrow and lance heads, are to 
be found in almost every ploughed field, whilst the images, and 
mounds are much more rare. The most remarkable series of 
mounds of which I have any knowledge, is to be found near Car- 
thage, near the line between Tuscaloosa and Hale counties. From 
one of these mounds, several pipes of stone carved to represent 
the human and other animal figures, were dug about twenty-five 
years ago. These images were exhibited before the American As- 
sociation for the Advancement of Science, where they were very 
greatly admired. They were considered unique by Prof. Putnam 
and other archaeologists of that body. 



In accordance with the nature of this Handbook, I have dwelt 
more at length upon those formations from which are derived 
economic materials, such as coal, iron, gold, copper, etc., still it 
has been my endeavor in the foregoing sketch to present a tol- 
erably complete view of the Geology of the State, so far as our 
present knowledge goes. 



Part Tenth. 

The Soils of Alabama.* 

BT 

WM. 0. STUBBS, PROFESSOR Or CHEMISTRY, AGRICULTURAL AND MECHAOT- 
CAL COLLEGE, AUBURN. 



To the successful agriculturist, a knowledge of the chemical 
nature and physical characters of the soii, which he cultivates, is 
of paramount importance. 

The soil furnishes directly to the plant, the mineral matter 
which is found in its ash, and is therefore most directly concerned 
with the nutrition of the plant. A chemical examination, alojie, 
reveals the amount of plant-food, both available and reserved, 
which a soil contains— hence the value of soil analyses. 

The soil is also the home of the plant; through its pores the 
tender rootlets penetrate in every direction, bra.cing the plant in 
its natural position and seeking the sources of the ash elements 
in the soil. 

Again, a knowledge of the physical qualities of a soil enables 
us to decide how and when to plow; how to drain, if necessary ; 
how to temper or economize the heat of the sun, and how, in a 
word, to ensure a co-operation of conditions which must conspire 
to produce a maximum crop. 

A knowledge of all these, may not in every instance bring to 
the farmer the full fruition of his hopes, but it will help him to 
economize the fertility of his soil or overcome its barrenness, and 
working in accordance with natural laws, he can so modify his 
environments, that all the natural deficiencies and climatic viciss- 
itudes cannot deprive him of profitable results for his labors. 

Soils are simply rocks, disintegrated by natural agencies work- 
ing through the lapse of ages. To the unaided eye, most soils 
consist of homogeneous particles, but under the microscope 
they are fragments of rocks more or less comminuted, iden- 
tical in shape and composition with the parent rock from which 
they came. The size of these particles often determine the agri. 
cultural value of a soU. 

♦Written expressly for this Hand-Book. 



in common parlance reference is often made to " soil '' and 
" subsoil ; " vague and indefinite terms when used scientifically, 
yet full of meaning to the farmer, who usually refers to the 
former that part of the soil which is inverted by his plow, and to 
the latter all beneath. Strictly speaking, the soil " is the surface 
stratum of earthy material as far as the roots of plants reach." 
In many instances on examining soils in place, we find at a depth 
of 2 to 15 inches, the usual range of a plow, a clearly defined line 
of division between the soil and sub-soil — a perceptible change 
in the character and color of the two ; thus in effect, reaching the 
same definition of our terms as given by farmers. On the other 
hand, we often find in the bottoms, in the prairie, marshes, etc., 
soils which exhibit no sensible change, for often 20 feet. To these, 
our definition will necessarily not apply. In this paper we shall 
use the terms, " soil " and " sub-soil," in the sense in which they 
are ordinarily accepted by the farmer. 

Before describing the soils of the State, an explanation of a 
fey terms which we will necessarily be compelled to use in the 
course of this paper, would not be inappropriate. Most rocks are 
the aggregates of several minerals — some of which decompose 
much more rapidly than others. The first act of decomposition 
consists mainly, in a dissociation of these mineral. After that 
the minerals themselves are resolved into simpler chemical combi- 
nations. Since some of these minerals decotnpose much more 
rapidly than others, we find in all soils two portions — one con- 
sisting of minerals not yet decomposed (undecomposed matter) — 
the other, where the minerals have already been resolved into 
simpler forms (decomposed matter). 

It must not, however, be understood that we can easily reach 
that point, where the soil will consist only of decomposed matter. 
Such an end is not easily obtained. ISTature, if left undisturbed, 
preserves constantly a wonderful equilibrium. While some of the 
natural agencies are at work unlocking the hidden treasures of 
the soil, others are busy in locking them up in new and insoluble 
forms. 

In speaking of manures in this paper, they will all be included 
under two general heads, Nutritive and Stimulant. Under the 
former will be included only those which furnish, directly, plant 
food to the soil, such as " Guanos," most of the " Commercial 
Fertilizers," " Animal Manures," " Cotton Seed," &c. Under the 
latter, we shall include " Fallowing," " Green Manuring," " Lime," 
"Plaster," "Salt," &c., in fact all which do not furnish directly 
valuable plant food but simply aid nature in decomposing rock 



199 

particles and preparing them for the plant. No clearly defined 
line of difference can be drawn between Nutritive and Stimulant 
manures ; since nearly all of the former are more or less stimula- 
ting, while many of the latter furnish small quantities of the less 
valuable kinds of plant food. " 

Our soils have never yet received a systematic examination 
and study, and hence, only such generalities can be given as may 
be inferred from a study of the geological formations of the State, 
noting under each head the kind of rocks found,* and the soils 
resulting therefrom. 

THE METAMORPHIC OR ARCH^AN REGION. 

This geological formation, after hugging the east side of the 
Appalachian chain of mountains throughout its entire extent, 
and forming some of the most valuable farming lauds of the 
Atlantic States, enters the central eastern part of Alabama and 
disappears beneath the overlying drift, just below the falls of the 
Tallapoosa and Coosa rivers, at Tallassee and Wetumpka. It 
includes all, or nearly all, of the counties of Cleburne, Clay, 
Chambers, Coosa, Elmore, Lee, Randolph and Tallapoosa, and 
small parts of Chilton, Autauga, Talladega and Macon. The 
rocks which, by disintegration, have given the soils of this section 
of the State are mainly Granites, Gneisses, Feldspars, Hornblendes, 
Mica Schists, Quartzose, &c. In the southern and southwestern 
parts of this section, the soils consist often of a mixture of these 
disintegrated rocks and transported materials and sometimes 
only of the latter. However, much the greater part of this sec- 
tion is covered by soils which have resulted from disintegration 
of the above mentioned rocks " in situ." 

And just here, I may remark a notable feature of these soils 
— a feature which cannot fail to arrest the attention of every 
northern geologist, viz : that decomposition of these rocks in 
southern latitudes have proceeded much further than the same 
rocks in higher latitudes, and therefore given us deeper soils. It 
is difficult to find in the North, a soil over a few feet deep, while 
here it is not uncommon to find in railroad cat's, wells, &c., disin- 
tegrated strata to the depth of 30, 50, or even 75 feet. This can 
be accounted for to a large extent by climatic influences. The 
warm waters charged with carbon dioxide, percolating, through-- 
out the year, the easily permeable strata, acts continuously as a 
chemical agent in the work of disintegration, while further North, 
not only the amount of water, the temperature and the chemical 
activity are reduced, but for one-half of the year, the soil is 



locked up by frost from all access of decomposing agencies,—^ 
(Kerr.) In no section of the State are presented such fine oppor- 
tunities for studying the inflaence of rocks upon soils. Grey 
soils, so favorable to the growing of cotton, derived from feld- 
spathic rocks, may be seen in many parts of Chambers and Lee, 
lying side by side with the warm brown mulatto- soils of horn- 
blende, which are better adapted to grain. 

In studying the geology of this part of the State, we find 
granite giving way to gneiss and this to mica or hornblendic 
schist. A large area of hornblende suddenly replaced by feld- 
spar, with now and then intervening ledges or particles of sand- 
stone, itacolumites and quartzites. So in examining the soils we 
must expect to find a great variety, differing in chemical compo- 
sition and in physical properties, according to the character of 
rocks from which they were derived, and hence the impractica- 
bility of presenting an accurate soil map or giving chemical an- 
alyses, which would fairly represent them all. 

For all practical purposes we may classify these soils under 
four general heads, and give the nature and characteristics of 
each and suggest their probable wants. 

1st. True Grey Soils : Such as have resulted from the 
disintegration of granite, gneiss, and feldspar. They disintegrate 
rapidly, yield easily to use of stimulative manures, well adapted 
to cotton, rich in potash, withstand well a drought, and do not 
run together or bake after heavy rains. They produce good 
crops of corn but are not especially adapted to small grain. 
Where they are very rolling and are subject to clean culture, 
they wash, but not to the extent of No. 2. They are easily cul- 
tivated, and since they rapidly decompose and yield well under 
cultivation, they are susceptible of early exhaustion, unless kept 
up by a system of raitowa^ agriculture, which returns every year 
as much of the fertilizing ingredient as is removed by the grow- 
ing crops. The use of superphosphates alone, have, in many in- 
stances, been attended by largely increased results, showing that 
phosphoric acid of the ash element has been nearly exhausted. 
Where the soil has been, for a long time in hold crops, the addi- 
tion of nitrogen in some available form with the superphosphate 
has proven highly remunerative, hence the good results usually 
attending many of the Ammoniated Superphosphates, sold in this 
part of the State. 

Below I append an analysis of a '' True Gray Soil," much 
worn and somewhat mixed from sand of hills — lying near a creek* 



It^o miles north of Opelika, Lee county, Alabama, on the piac6 
of Mr. Isaac Eoss: 

Moisture expelled at 212° F.. 1.22 

Organic matter,.... 3.54 

Potash ., 1.20 

Soda... 1.38 

Sulphuric Acid, , 28 

Iron and Alumina , 1.79 

Lime '. 16 

Magnesia ; 07 

Phosphoric Acid 043 

Carbonic Acid 84 

Chlorine '. .96 

Insoluble matter 88.320 

99.803 
It is evident from an examination of analysis of this soil, that 
vegetable matter, Phosphoric Acid and Lime, are mostly needed. 
Green manuring with superphospates would meet its wants in the 
cheapest manner, A compost of cotton seed, stable manure, and 
superphosphates has been found to produce most efficacious results. 
2d. Red, Brown, or Mulatto Soils: These have re- 
sulted from Hornblende rocks, and since they contain 
much iron, the soils are naturally red, becoming brown or 
mulatto when mixed with humus. These soils cover the greater 
part of this region, and were never intended for cotton — their 
composition, together with the configuration of surface, forbid- 
ding clean culture. All over the world they are pronounced as 
the best grain lands, and here nothing but the difficulties of trans- 
portation and the consequent low prices, have heretofore pre- 
vented a large portion of this section from being the rival of Ohio 
in the raising of wheat and oats. This difficulty has been par- 
tially removed, but most too late for the benefit of the present 
generation. The continuous cultivation of cotton has greatly de- 
teriorated the surface soils. The country is everywhere hilly 
and undulating, and the greatest care must be practised in culti- 
vation, to prevent washes, even, when the soils are kept filled 
with vegetable matter. Mr. Jefferson, whose home, at Monticello, 
was situated in the same formation, early in life, learned from the 
French peasants, the expediency of hillside ditches, and hori- 
zontal rows, and adopted them upon his own place, even though 
his favorite crops were grain. But no such practice.has obtained 
in Alabama; for forty years or more cotton, relieved only occa- 
sionally by a crop of corn, has been persistently grown— vege- 
table matter, a preventive to some extent against denudation, has 
been utterly eradicated by the clean culture which cotton re- 
quires ; hillside ditches, if any existed, were of a primitive char- 



iacte'r, such as were laid off by tlie eye of a man on horseback, 
and often productive of serious injury. Deep plowing, so essen- 
tial in a physical and chemical sense, was ignored. The rains 
came, the floods descended, and the fine soils which nature had 
been ages in forming for the use of man, were suddenly trans- 
ported to the Gruif of Mexico, and red, barren, bleak, unsightly 
hillsides were left, to irritate the improvident farmer and elicit 
unfavorable comm^^nts upon his system of farming from the acci- 
dental traveller. The recovery of such hillsides, though slow, is 
yet possible. Leveling as far as possible, hillside ditches, deep 
plowing, aiding the soil at first with nutritive manures, afterwards 
with stimulants, incorporating vegetable matter, with frequent 
fallowing, and the primitive fertility will assuredly be regained. 
I do not say that such recovery at the present time is feasible. 
I only say it is possible, and the plan is given for those who may 
wish to reclaim jsmall but eligible spots. 

But much of the original soil remains and is giving hip-ndsome 
returns to well directed labor. The Jirst need of these red soils, 
is vegetable matter ; humus, to aid in preventing washes — to with- 
stand excessive droughts, to prevent the baking and packing of 
wet, and the cracking and rifting of dry weather. Beep Plowing, 
which is to be recommended on almost all soils, is here trebly 
required, to give larger extent of surface to the growing plant — to 
increase the capacity of the soil to absorb rapidly large amounts 
of water, and enable the plant to withstand droughts. 

These soils are similar in their origin and comi)Osition to those 
of Albemarle, Virginia ; and if we were to imitate these good 
farmers of the Old Dominion in the preservation of the soil, the 
preparation and cultivation of small grain and grasses, a free use 
of manures and improved implements, and a liberal raising of 
stock, there is abundant reason for believing that we would far 
excel this wealthy and highly favored portion of Virginia, both in 
the products of the land and interest upon our investments. 

I append an analysis of a red soil with an intense red sub-soil 
obtained on the same plantation as No. 1 : 

Water expelled at 212° F , 9.46 

Organic Matier , H.34 

Irou Oxide and Alumina * 6 75 

Soluble Silica 316 

Potash 135 

Soda 154 

Lime 96 

Magnesia 15 

Sulphuric Acid.. ., .241 

Phosphoric Acid 025 

Carbouic Acid 77 

Chlorine 855 

Manganese , .23 

Insoluble Matter , 74.54 

100.429 



ao3 

This soil was taken from a field which was comparatively level 
and had not been washed. It had been in constant cultivation for 
over 40 years, with perhaps little or no manure during all that 
time. From the analysis, we see that even yet it is a fair soil and 
its greatest need is phosphoric acid. The subsoil is much richer 
in the fertilizing ingredients than the soil, hence deep plowing, 
incorporating the two, will prove highly beneficial. Lime is 
always abundant in hornblende soils, and potash is rarely want- 
ing. In this instance, constant cropping had reduced the latter in 
the surface soil considerably below the average. 

3d. Light Grey or Isinglass Soils : Such as have resulted 
from the disintegration of mica or micaceous rocks. They are 
similar to the true grey soils in appearance, except they contain 
more sand and more mica. They are not so fertile as ]^o. 1, but 
much more lasting — mica which furnishes the plant food, decom- 
posing slowly under the iafluence only of natural agencies. 
They produce fair crops of corn and cotton, but are not well 
adapted to small grain. They possess similar physical properties 
though to a less degree, as No. 1, but are generally greatly infer- 
ior in chemical composition. I have no analysis of a fair average 
of Isinglass Soils — have made several of this class of soils — but 
they were all mixed with much sand. 

No. 4. Sandy Soils: Such as have resulted from Sand- 
stones, Quartzites, and Itacolumites. These vary in value accord- 
ing to fineness of division and to admixture of transported 
material. Some are obdurately barren, whilst others, under 
proper management, yield good crops. 

It is easily cultivated. Cotton never grows large, but is 
usually well fruited. Potatoes and most root crops succeed well. 
I have seen fine orchards of peaches and apples also on these 
soils. Improvement can be readily obtained by turning in of 
green crops and the free use, afterwards, of Nutritive manures. 
Wherever the soil is immediately underlaid by a stratum of clay 
or loam, such improvement may be made permanent, otlierwise it 
has to be periodically renewed. Much of these lands are used 
for spring and summer pastures, the early sedge, after burning 
off the growth of t*ie previous year, affording a pretty good 
quality of nutritious grazing. These soils vary so much in com- 
position that no analysis could represent them all, hence I deem 
it useless to insert any here, though several have been made from 
different parts of this section. 



^04 

General Remarks upon the Archsean Region. 

This portion of the State is considerably elevated above the 
level of the sea, in many instances rising to the height of 800 
feet. Water is excellent, (freestone) and m-iy be obtained, either 
from springs, (which are common) or from wells. The latter are 
rarely deep and generally require no curbing. The health of the 
country is excellent, No malaria exists. . The country is well 
settled, and its lands, though all occupied, are, much of them, 
uncultivated. 

This section seems to be well suited to peaches, producing 
the largest and ihost exquisitely flavored ones to be found any- 
where. Grapes, too, are grown with great success. Wild plums 
and blackberries are everywhere to be found in great profusion. 
There are many reasons for believing that this country was de- 
signed by nature for stock raising. It is everywhere well 
watered, and the native grasses, beginning in early spring, with 
the Buffalo Clover, followed by the Bermuda and Crab grasses 
in the summer and fall, and the Cane in winter, furnish abundance 
of sustenance for horses and cattle throughout the year. Limited 
experiments have been made in this direction with good success. 
Interspersed between the hills are many fertile valleys and ham- 
mocks formed of transported material brought down from adja- 
cent hills and partaking, more or less, of the character of jthe 
hills. They are usually very productive and are much esteemed 
as farming lands. Many of these bottoms, if left uncultivated 
and protected during the summer from stock, afford large quan- 
tities of cane, upon which cattle and horses can be kept the 
entire winter. 

THE SILURIAN AND DEVONIAN KEGION. 

In this state it would be well for our purpose to include under 
one head these two geological periods, since the latter is repre- 
sented only by small outcrops ("black shale") closely associated 
with Silurian rocks. The formation included under above head 
occupy small but valuable areas. Besides small and scattered 
patches in North Alabama, it enters Northeastern Alabama and 
following the bend of the Appalachian Mountains extends as far 
south as Oentreville, in Bibb county, making the Coosa Valley 
and its outliers, Cahaba, Eoup's,^Wills', Murphree's, and a part of 
Brown's. If we except the eastern mountain border of the 
Coosa Valley which is composed of Acadian slates and conglom- 
erates (a broken rugged country, arable only in creek bottoms, 
but hills covered with grasses and leguminous plants, affording 



ao5 

good pastures) and an occasional outcrop of sub-carboniferous 
chert, the entire structure of these valleys is of this forma- 
tion. The counties occupied in part by this formation are Bibb, 
Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, DeKalb, Etowah, Jefferson, Marshall, 
Shelby and Talladega. 

The epochs of this formation represented' in Alabama are : 
Potsdam Sandstone : A mountain-making epoch of com- 
paratively limited extent, sparsely' settled, very little cultivated, 
but valuable pasture grounds. Occasionally furnishing some fine 
farming lands, styled red clay, though in reality sand colored by 
iron, well adapted to grain and grasses, at present wanting in 
vegetable matter, but susceptible of great improvement. ' Below 
are analyses of soil and subsoil taken from Section 10, Town- 
ship 20, Eange 3, near Ohildersburg, Talladega county, Alabama: 
No. 1 is soil; No. 2. sub-soil: 

No. 1. No. 2. 

Soluble Silica 063 .116 

Tannic (?) Oxide..... 2.715 6.060 

Alumina 1.515 1.600 

Manganese 570 .665 

Sulphuric Acid..... 275 .384 

Potash .434 .467 

Phosphoric Acid 075 .090 

Carb. of Lime .265 .294 

Carb. of Magnesia 216 .240 

Organic Matter 5.700 1.740 

Insoluble, Soda and Chlorine 88.172 88.324 

100. 100. 

An inspection of the above analyses will show at once that 
Phosphoric Acid is the only element really needed. This too is 
not abundant in sub-soil. Green manuring with stimulating 
manures would do a great deal towards making this soil very 
productive. The addition occasionally of a heavy dressing of 
superphosphate or ground bone would largely increase the yield 
of crops. 

Oalciferous : Another mountain making epoch, with long, 
narrow, sharp ridges — little cultivated — not valuable for pasture, 
but with a varied and valuable timber growth. 

Quebec : Divided in Alabama, into Knox Shale and Knox 
Dolomite, after the geology of Tennessee. Many of the valleys in 
which are found some of the best farms in the State, are com- 
posed of this shale. The soils vary in fertility according as the 
shale approaches the surface, and are easily tilled — but owing to an 
improvident and irrational system of cultivation, which has for 
years made such continuous drains upon them, with no compen- 



ao6 

sating returns, many of these rich farms have been partially ex- 
hausted, abandoned and al owed to grow up in old field pines. 

The Dolomite, of wide superficial distribution, the most mas- 
sive calcareous formation in tbe State, gives characteristic soils — 
which cover, perhaps, three-fourths of the valleys mentioned 
above. The physical features of wide valleys, with subordinated 
ridges of chert, at once characterize and determine this epoch. 
The lower part of the epoch is calcareous, the upper cherty, 
hence upon the former are found most excellent farpaing lands, 
with deep, rich soils, colored intensely red by iron present. The 
fine red soils of Bibb, Shelby, Talladega, Calhoun, and Cherokee 
counties, which have been cultivated since the early settlement of 
the country, and which still bear good crops, attest the true value 
of these lands. The upper cherty portions of this formation, 
when confined to ridges, sometimes give good soils, but when the 
chert is the prevailing rock, as in Talladega county, southwest of 
Talladega town, between the mountains and the river, we have a 
hilly, unproductive, sparsely settled country, cultivated only 
along creek bottoms, with a fine growth of long leaf pine and an 
undergrowth of leguminous plants and grasses, upon which a 
large number of cattle find subsistence. Between these two ex- 
tremes we find all intermediate grades of soil — but none of them 
are really sterile. 

Ohazy and Trenton : These two formations, closely asso- 
ciated with the Dolomite, are of limited area and confined to nar- 
row glades which grow red cedar in great abundance. These 
soils are of the highest order, but so limited in extent as to be of 
no agricultural importance in Alabama. The famous blue grass 
regions of Kentucky and Tennessee are upon soils derived 
mainly from these formations. 

The Clinton or Red Mountain : The Black Shale and the 
Cherty Sub-Carboniferous make up the remaining formations of 
these valleys. The first yields the red hematite, the fossiliferous 
iron ore, so valuable in the iron economy of Alabama. They all 
form rugged, flinty, ridges, little cultivated, but affording good 
pasturage. 

General Remarks on the Silurian and Devonian Region. 

The above formations make up the valleys named. From a 
close inspection of the geological epochs, we find they are often 
crowded together — sometimes several are found on the same 
farm, and since these epochs, vary ip. kind of rocks furnished, 
limestones, sandstones and shales, we are surprised to find every 



207 

kind of soil represented, from the richest bottom to the unpro- 
ductive hill-top. We can, therefore, give no formula or suggest 
no want which would be applicable alike to them all. A thor- 
ough chemical examination of these soils, aided by direct experi- 
ments in the fields upon crops of known composition, would be of 
great benefit in determining their needs and wants, and materially 
aid the farmer in securing that improvement now so "devoutly 
wished." But I cannot refrain from expressing the opinion that 
nature has intended most of these lands for grains and grasses, 
that instead of the numerous cotton bales which are annually 
sent to market, large droves of fat cattle and sheep, should bear 
to the shambles, the concentrated products of the soil. They 
are finely watered and bear well the "trampling of the hoof." 
Clover, to a limited extent, has been very successfully grown. 
Here, too, deep plowing, to bring up and mingle with the soil the 
more fertile subsoil, followed by green manuring with small 
quantities of nutritive manures, will, in many instances, give us 
soils not inferior to the blue grass regions of Kentucky. 

THE SUB-CAEBONIPEEOUS REGION OF NORTH ALABAMA. 

This forms one of the two great agricultural regions of the 
State. The counties occupied wholly or in part by this formation 
are Limestone, Lauderdale, Madison, Jackson, Colbert, Lawrence, 
Morgan, Marshall, Franklin and Blount. The Tennessee river, 
rising between the Cumberland and Alleghany Mountains, enters 
Alabama along an anticlinal valley until it reaches Gunter's Land- 
ing, where it is turned westward by the shales and millstone grit 
of the coal measures, and then flowing for over 200 miles in this 
directi >n, it breaks through, the yielding cretaceous rocks of Ten- 
nessee, and performs that anomalous hydrographic feature of 
flowing north, till finally it mingles with the " Father of Waters." 
The valley from Gunter's Landing is one of denudation, one in 
which the carboniferous rocks extending once from Walker 
coun'y to the Tennessee line, have been worn away by the 
erosive power of water, so that now only Montesano and its out- 
liers, with their tops crowned with the unyielding millstone grit, 
remain to confirm this geological fact. The waters damned up in 
this inland sea, in obedience to a well-known law of Physics, " a 
body in motion will follow the line of least resistance," cut their 
way through the yielding cretaceous rocks of Tennessee rather 
than attempt to reach the Gulf by a direct route. This magnifi- 
cent valley extends from Gunter's Landing to the Mississippi line 
and is of varying breadth. 



208 

Its rocks from the top of Montesano to the foot of Muscle 
Shoals, are about 1,500 feet in thickness, and consist of limestone 
more or less siliceous, and sandstones. The soils so far as I have 
been able to examine are of great uniformity — mainly the disin- 
tegration of a porous fine-grained sandstone containing more or 
less limestone and filled with fossils and cherty nodules. Oc- 
casionally the sandstone has been denuded and patches of lime- 
stone are found in the depressions, scooped out by the streams ; 
still the prevailing rock is sandstone. 

This sandstone contains much iron and in weathering gives 
soils of an intense red color, impressing most of the farmers with 
the idea that they are cultivating clay soils. But such happily is 
not a fact. Since they are sand, the heavy rains falling upon 
these level porous lands, are soaked up at once and re-appear in 
those magnificent fountains such as are found at Huntsville and 
Tuscumbia. The native growth of this country consists of enor- 
mous oaks upon the red lands, giving way to red cedars when the 
limestone approaches the surface. When first settled, these 
lands were magnificent and commanded enormous prices. Though 
they have been in continuous cultivation for nearly fifty years, and 
that, too, without any manure, save such as has been necessarily 
saved on a farm, they still bring remunerative crops when well 
tilled. These soils, when mixed with vegetable matter, become 
brown and the appearance of red hills is but a declaration that 
the upper soil is gone. They are excellent for grains and grasses. 
The writer has seen as fine crops of blue grass, clover and 
orchard grass, grow upon these unmanured soils as he has ever 
seen in the most famous grass regions of this country. Cotton, 
too, grows well and makes fine weed, but from perhaps lack of 
phosphoric acid in the soil and rather too short season, does not 
fruit well. Fruits of all kinds are grown here, but it seems to be 
the special hahitat of the grape, which grows here to as great 
perfection as upon the banks of the Ehine. I^o part of the 
State is so desirable for a home, affording so many advantages 
and possessing such magnificent agricultural possibilities. It is, 
and has been, the home of an intelligent population; divided into 
large farms with fine residences and excellent improvements. In 
the near future, when fertilizers shall be extensively used and a 
proper system of rotation adopted, and a diversified farming 
shall supplant the now exclusive cotton culture, a new era will 
dawn upon this highly favored country and its waste places shall 
again bloom with the emerald tints of restored fertility. Fpon 
most of these soils superphosphates are wanted to supply the 



209 

mucli needed phosphoric acid, which the continuous cropping in' 
cotton, and in many instances, the ruinous practice of selling the 
seed beyond the limits of the farm, has removed. The worn 
places can be renovated by fallowing, pulverizing, and applying 
both ammonia and phosphoric acid in some available form. A 
compost of cotton seed, stable manure, and superphosphate, to be 
used on these spots is to be highly recommended. Deep plow- 
ing, intermixing the more fertile subsoil with the soil, seems also 
desirable. There is at present one serious drawback to this 
beautiful portion of the State — the want of a near market for its 
produce. Cotton is now the only product which will stand trans- 
portation to the distant markets of Nashville and Memphis, but 
we cannot think this will always be so. When the railroad sys- 
tem, now projected through the heart of our mineral wealth, 
shall be developed ; when the canal around Muscle Shoals, now 
being constructed, shall be completed ; when our iron and coal 
industries shall attain the powerful proportions to which they are 
destined; when this valley shall smile again with its restored fer- 
tility, then will commerce and manufactures seek an emporium of 
trade and build a city of one hundred thousand inhabitants some- 
where on the banks of the lovely Tennessee, and exchange their 
goods and wares for the teeming products of this favored land. 
It is no idle speculation or dreamy imagining which gives birth to 
this prophecy, but a calm survey of the surrounding potentiali- 
ties. We verily believe all this will be fully realized in the next 
50 years. 

THE CARBONIFEROUS REGION, OR COAL MEASURES. 

The 5,000 or more square miles of coal measures in this State, 
are, in an agricultural view, nearly worthless, l^othing less than 
a large quantity of nutritive manures and pure Teutonic pluck 
can ever make them yield profitable results. The counties occu- 
pied wholly or in part by this formation, are Blount, DeKalb, Et- 
owa, Franklin, Fayette, Lawrence, Marshall, Morgan, Jefferson, 
Jackson, St. Clair, Shelby, Walker, Tuscaloosa, and Winston. The 
soils mainly sandy and loamy, resulting from the partial disinte- 
gration of sandstones and shales, are easily tilled, hard to im- 
prove, and easOy washed. Only in the creek bottoms and depres- 
sions can cultivation be made remunerative. 

However, upon some of the uplands, orchards and vineyards 
are found of unusual productiveness. Much of this formation 
consists of level table lands with a stunted, scanty growth, and 
an undergrowth of sufficient nutrition to support large quantities 



aio 

of cattle and sheep. Deer and other varieties of game are abun- 
dant in many places. The country is inhabited only by small 
landholders, and they are " few and far between." The water ig 
excellent and abundant. But though its bosom is bare, its womb 
is fertile and is constantly pouring into the lap of commerce, quan- 
tities of bituminous coal, the residue of a luxuriant vegetation 
which once flourished upon its bosom. When we know this we 
are not surprised now at its infertility. In the divine economy, 
it seems decreed that the materials which have sustained and 
preserved such a vigorous vegetation in the past, shall not be- 
come fit to serve as soils for plants of the present age. These 
shales and sandstones gave up their valuable chemical properties 
in supporting this vigorous vegetation, and underwent essential 
physical changes in the effort, through a long lapse of ages, to 
preserve it. They are now dense, compact, and semi-indurate — 
they are wanting in those ash elements which are so essential to 
the growth of plants. Hence, before they can be made suitable 
for the growth of analagous plants, at present existing, they must 
undergo, through another lapse of ages, the disintegrating influ- 
ences of atmospheric agencies, and have mixed with them the 
ashes of the untold millions of tons of coal which lie buried be- 
neath them. 

THE CRETACEOUS PERIOD. 

Prof. Tuomey, in his Geological report, divided this period 
into the "Lower," " Middle," and "Upper." Dr. Hilgard, of Mis- 
sissippi, again divided the " Middle " into 2 groups — thus making 
four groups, and assigned to them the names of " Eutaw," " Tom- 
bigbee Sand," "Eotten Limestone," and " Eipley." In this paper 
we shall adopt Hilgard's nomenclature. 

While the geology of this country has been well studied and 
understood, from a strictly scientific standpoint its relation to 
agriculture has not yet been fully examined, nor can it be without 
great cost and labor — for while recognizing the underlying rocks 
which often reach the surface, we frequently find them covered 
with transported materials of later periods, and sometimes inti- 
mately mixed, thus giving rise to an almost unlimited number of 
soils, both in appearance and productive capacity. This belt 
enters Alabama at or below Columbus, Georgia, and running 
across the State with an average width of about 60 miles, passes 
through northeast Mississippi into Tennessee. In Alabama, we 
find this formation best developed, occupying wholly or in part 
the counties of Butler, Bullock, Barbour, Crenshaw, Autauga, 



211 

Dallas, Elmore, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marion, Marengo, 
Montgomery, Lowndes, Macon, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Eussell, 
Sumter, and Wilcox. 

Eutaw Group : Consists of sand, more or less clayey, with 
a yellow color. Soils are inferior but susceptible of improve- 
ment. Eegion occupied by them hilly and sandy. Springs 
abundant, and water nearly always pure freestone. The whole 
territory has been once covered with the drift which now remains 
only upon isolated ridges and hills, marked features of this epoch. 
Wherever the drift forms the entire soil, pines occur, and lands 
are poor, but when underlaid by a good subsoil of clay, within 
reach of the plow, improvement is easy. 

Tombigbee Sand Group : The soils are sandy, approach- 
ing, in character, those of Eutaw, save they are more calcareous, 
and the valleys are narrow and fertile. The prevailing growth, 
8hort leaf pine^ post oak, black jack and chestnut remains 
unchanged. 

Rotten Limestone: This is the great prairie forming 
stratum of the cretaceous. The country underlaid by this forma- 
tion is called the " cotton belt," a belt so widely known that Ma- 
rengo county once had a national reputation. Here we find a 
great variety of soils, and locally, many names for them, but the 
" Prairie Eegion " proper, consists of white clay marls or soft 
limestone, (Eotten Limestone) and forms a level or gently undula- 
ting surface, mostly with heavy calcareous soils, partly prairie, 
and partly oak uplands, poor in springs and with limy well 
waters — (Hilgard). 

These belts or series of disconnected patches of prairies 
proper are found scattered among areas of a more rolling nature, 
pale light soil covered with common upland oaks. Sometimes 
these oak prairies are very fertile, but often found poor, as may 
be inferred from the stunted growth upon them, the fertility 
seems to be determined by the depth of the rotten limestone 
beneath them. Where these uplands slope off to the creek bot- 
toms, " Hammocks " are found, increasing in fertility as they 
descend — till finally, in the bottoms, they differ only from true 
black prairie, in being lighter and containing more vegetable 
matter. The black prairie is a heavy, dark, clay soU with a pale, 
greenish yellow subsoil, underlaid at a depth of 3 to 10 feet by 
rotten limestone. When this subsoil^ at the edges of the black 
prairie, approaches the surface and becomes the soU, it forms 
what is usually termed " Black Jack Prairie," and where the rot- 
ten limestone approaches the surface and mixes with the soil, it 



212 

is termed " Bald Prairie." Wherever the latter occurs, clumps 
of Crab Apple, Wild Plum, Honey Locust, &c., are usually to be 
seen, and as this bald prairie gives way to prairie proper, so these 
trees are replaced by Oaks. These soils seem by nature decreed 
for corn and cotton. It is pre-eminently the " Cotton Belt," and 
I would advise no system of agriculture which did not io elude 
cotton as the chief crop on these soils. Without a more careful 
examination and study of these soils, it would, of course, be pre- 
mature for me to lay down any regular rules to be followed in 
the cultivation of them — but from data obtained from examina- 
tion and analyses of soils taken from Lowndes county, a few sug- 
. gestive hints might be given. They are very heavy soils, and in 
wet weather are exceedingly troublesome to cultivate. Everyone 
knows how hard it is to obtain a " stand " in a wet spring. Still 
they are unlike other heavy soils. In drying after a heavy rain, 
instead of breaking up into clods, they crumble into an impal- 
pable powder, giving the appearance, when dry, of a very light 
soil. This property is due to the lime present and is common to 
all calcareous clays. With this self imposed correction, proper 
drainage is alone necessary to insure the crops against the vicis- 
situdes of the weather. It is needless here to give the benefits of 
draining. Suffice to say, that no country stands more in need of 
it than this, since none suffer so much by being plowed, or 
trampled by cattle in wet weather. Drainage and deep plowing 
will therefore greatly aid in remedying the physical properties of 
these soils and thus enable the crops to send their roots deeper 
and over a wider range in quest of food. Add to these the 
proper nutritive manures— (superphosphates particularly, furnish- 
ing both Phosphoric and Sulphuric Acids, of which some of these 
soils, from analyses, stand in need,) and the primitive fertility of 
these lands can be regained and maintained. On the bald prai- 
ries, vegetable matter is greatly needed and they should be 
treated as though they had received an overdose of lime. Again 
on some of these Oak Uplands, by continuous cropping, the 
lime appears to be nearly exhausted. A good application of 
marl or an admixture of the bald prairie would prove of great 
benefit. There is one objection to this country — the want of 
water. The strealns flooded at every good rain, soon go dry. 
No springs exist, and water has to be caught in cisterns under 
ground without cement, in the impervious limestone, for man and 
beast, or else obtained from artesian wells, bored into the under- 



213 

lying strata of Eiitaw and Tombigbee sand. Below I append 
some analyses made of soils from Lowndes county, Alabama : 
No. 1, called Prairie Proper or 

BALD PRAIBIB; 

black ; hard calcareous soil ; rusts cotton : 

Moisture (expelled at 212°) 16 93 

Organic Matter 8.5 

Soluble Silica 124 

Iron Oxides and Alumina 1.55 

Carbonate of Lime 12.89 

Carbonate of Magnesia = 1438 

Sulphuric Acid Trace. 

Potash 482 

Soda 1.73 

Phosphoric Acid 1279 

Insoluble 67.1243 

Chlorine, Manganese, and loss 398 

100. 
The absolute weight of a cubic foot is 77.88 lbs. Sample obtained 
near Letohatchee. 

No. 2 is an analysis of 

BALD PRAIBIE SUBSOIL, 

which rusts cotton : 

Moisture (expelled at 212°) 16.53 

Organic Matter — 4.01 

Soluble Silica. 413 

Iron Oxides and Alumina 2.3 

Potash , 1 485 

Soda 2.234 

Carbonate of Lime 35. 

Carbonate of Magnesia 063 

Sulphuric Acid , Trace 

Phosphoric Acid Trace. 

Insoluble 37.8 

Chlorine, Manganese, and loss 178 

100. 
One cubic foot weighs 80.69 K)s ; natural color grey. Sample obtained 
from plantation of Mr. Satterwhite, of Letohatchee. 
No. 3 is an analysis of 

POST-OAK PBAIEIB SOIL. 

Moisture and Organic Matter 13. 

Soluble Silica 091 

Iron Oxides and Alumina 9 

Carbonate of Lime 35 

Carbonate of Magnesia 0945 

Potash « .213 

Soda 464 

Phosphoric Acid 08 

Sulphuric Acid 0858 

Insoluble 84.5117 

Chlorine, Manganese, and loss 21 

100. 



214 

Absolute weight of cubic foot 83.34 lbs ; color dark. Obtained from 
plantation of Dr. Hopping, of Letohatchee. 
No. 4 is an analysis of 

POST-OAK PBAIRIE SUBSOIL. 

Moisture and Organic Matter ....23. 

Iron Oxides and Alumina 6.43 

Sulphuric Acid 1.23 

Carbonate of Lime 48 

Carbonate of Magnesia 684 

Potash 289 . 

Soda 533 

Phosphoric Acid 113 

Other substances, and loss 709 

Insoluble 66.532 

100. 
Absolute weight of cubic foot 76.12 Hbs ; color red. Sample obtained 
from farm of Dr. Hopping, of Letohatchee. 
No. 5 is an analysis of 

WOODLAND PKAIBIE SOIL. 

Moisture and Organic Matter 9.05 

Soluble Silica 087 

Iron Oxides and Alumina 3.20 

Carbonate of Lime 42 

Carbonate of Magnesia.. 0588 

Potash 1534 

Soda 4632 

Phosphoric Acid 0384 

Sulphuric Acid 031 

Insoluble 86.2453 

Chlorine, Manganese, and loss 2529 

100. 
Absolute weight of cubic foot 70.12 Bbs; color dark. Obtained from 
woods at Letohatchee. 
No. 6 is an analysis of 

WOODLAND PBAIBIE SOIL. 

Moisture and Organic Matter 14.60 

Iron Oxides and Alumina 3.70 

Sulphuric Acid 006 

Soluble Silica .' 134 

Carbonate of Lime 1.76 

Carbonate of Magnesia .504 

Potash 496 

Soda ., 634 

Phosphoric Acid 262 

Other substances, and loss 350 

Insoluble 77.654 

100. 

Absolute weight of cubic foot 72.25K)s ; color black. Sample obtained 
from farm of Mr. Branscomb, of Gilmer's. It rusts cotton. 

Ripley Group : This is characterized by limestones more or 
less sandy, and glauconitic, underlaid by micaceous clays, (more 



215 

or less sandy) interstratified with an occasional ledge of lime- 
stone. The soils when not overlaid with drift or yellow loam, are 
good, the green sand present ensuring permanent fertility under 
proper treatment. Hills and ridges are prominent features in 
the landscape, often covered with thick strata of drift, e. g. 
Chunenugger, Bullock county, Alabama. Small prairie spots 
are met with, often on tops of ridges where soft calcareo»s rocks 
come to surface, forming what are known as " bald prairie hill- 
tops." These overlying beds of sand, etc., afford generally an 
abundance of water, a great desideratum in the prairies. The 
streams which empty into the Chattahoochee have their beds in 
this micaceous clay, and it is believed by the writer (who has not, 
however, personally examined them) that much of the fine farm- 
ing lands of Eussel, Barbour, Bullock and Macon are of this for- 
mation. 

General Remarks on the Cretaceous Region : This 
belt, which constitutes, with the valley of the Tennessee, the two 
great agricultural formations of the State, is remarkable for many 
characteristics, not possessed generally by soils Geologically 
speaking, it has no counterpart east of the Mississippi river, and 
for breadth of surface, fertility of soil, and ease of culture, has 
no equal on the continent. It is admirably adapted to corn and 
cotton, and notwithstanding the continuous cultivation for over 
fifty years, it still bears handsome crops. These lands formerly 
commanded high prices, but since the war these prices have not 
been maintained. 

The health, when proper sanitary regulations were exercised, 
was good. Since the war, little or no attention has been paid to 
sanitary observances, and hence malaria, to some extent, has pre- 
vailed. But a removal of decaying matter from the streams, with 
proper ditching and drainage, would greatly benefit the country, 
in a hygienic sense, and make it as healthy as richjands generally 
are. 

THE TERTIARY SOILS. 

We have constantly alluded, under the cretaceous formations, 
to the presence of Drift and Yellow Loam, as forming much of 
the surface stratum, and therefore the soils. In the southern 
part of the State we find this to exist to a very great extent, often 
covering large areas, to the depth of many feet. Even when the 
true tertiary strata approach near, or quite, to the surface, the 
soils formed therefrom are. greatly modified by an admixture with 
drift. 



2l6 

Geologically, this age is represented in Alabama by five 
groups: The Lignitic; the Claiborne; the Jackson; the Vicks- 
burg, and the Grand Gulf. The counties occupied wholly or in 
part by this formation are — Barbour, Baldwin, Butler, Clark, 
Choctaw, Coffee, Covington, Connecuh, Crenshaw, Dale, Escam- 
bia, Geneva, Henry, Mobile, Monroe, Marengo, Pike, Sumter, 
Washington, and Wilcox. 

The Lignitic territory is generally hilly, except small portions 
bordering upon cretaceous formations, where the true lignitic 
clays or sandstones approach the surface and form tolerably 
good soils. The hills are generally covered with the drift and 
are poor, while the bottoms and creek sides immediately beneath 
them, where the greensand marls of this period come to the sur- 
face, are very fertile. 

The Claiborne : The area underlaid by this division is small 
and possesses no striking peculiarities in surface formations. It 
outcrops upon the banks of streams and creeks, and imparts to 
the soils of the valleys considerable fertility. So far as the writer 
is aware of, it forms no large tracts of desirable soils outside of 
bottoms and valleys. 

The Jackson and Vicksburg groups are both strongly cal- 
careous and present many points of similarity to the rotten lime- 
stone of the cretaceous. Although the territory occupied by these 
groups, are to a considerable extent, covered by drift, still there 
are areas where the rocks approach near, or quite, to the surface, 
and form 6Z<xcA;_, and, bald prairies, analagous in appearance and 
origin to those of the cretaceous, though of much smaller extent 
and with subsoils, unlike the true prairies, of same material 
as soils, reaching down to the calcareous beds which produced 
them. The soils are grey or yellow calcareous clays, and much 
that has been said under " True Prairies," can be applied to these. 
Occasionally some of these prairies are ''salty'' in addition to 
being " bald," which is due to a small amount of gypsum found 
in the yellow clay, and are called " Gypseous' prairies," in con- 
tradistinction to the common or " shell prairies." No Gypsum, 
however, in workable quantities, has yet been found in any part 
of the State, though fine crystalized specimens have been ob- 
tained by the writer, from Clark, Choctaw, and Eussell counties. 
The Zeuglodon, a mammoth fossil often 100 feet in length, allied 
to the whale tribe, is found in the Jackson group in this State and 
Mississippi. 

Grand Gulf Group: This is the long leaf pine region of 
our State, and, though known in geology as a division of the 



ii7 

Tertiary, the entire surface is everywhere covered with drift. Ko 
section of the State presents such a uniformity of soils, vegeta- 
tion, and configuration of surface. The latter is usually level or 
gently undulating, save where it approaches large water courses, 
where it falls rather abruptly. These soils are in the main, 
sandy, occasionally resting upon thin clays, and very porous; 
hence, rains falling upon them, are rapidly absorbed. This prop- 
erty of the soil, while it insures them against gullies and washes, 
makes them also very unretentive of any fertilizer that may be 
put upon them. The prominent forest tree is the long leaf pine, 
("Pinus Australis,") which grows upon the hills, and even, in 
some instances, to the verge of the bottoms, but not in the bot- 
toms themselves ; there they give way to other vegetation which 
requires richer soils. In all this country wherever we find the 
long leaf pine supplanted by other growth, it is an infallible sign 
of an improvement in the soil. Where the long leaf pine occurs 
alone, the soil will rarely ray for cultivation, unless on hill-sides 
or in the bottoms. These bottoms yield well, although their soils 
are nearly all sand, since the roots of the plants are enabled to 
penetrate and forage over a large area. Notwithstanding the 
unproductiveness of this country, some of it is beautiful to look 
upon. Enormous tracts of sparsely settled, straight, clear 
limbed pines, waving their tops in mournful melancholy, sloping 
away as far as the eye can reach, with an undergrowth of long 
grass, interspersed with the most brilliantly tinted flowers, are 
everywhere common and present spectacles of the rarest beauty 
and proportions. The Indians once destroyed annually at the 
right season, the native undergrowth by fire, thus preserving a 
most excellent pasturage for stock — but their Anglo-Saxon suc- 
cessors, either through ignorance or improvidence, are fast 
destroying these natural pastures by applying the torch at the 
wrong season, and thus burning out the roots and parching the 
seed of the native grasses. This burning should always be done 
in the late fall or early spring, when the ground is wet or moist. 
The following analyses, taken from Hilgard's Geology of Missis- 
sippi, will serve as a type to most of the soils of this formation 
in Alabama. No. 1 is a Pine Upland soil, from Summit, Pike 
county, Mississippi, taken to a depth of 9 inches. Vegetation, 
Long Leaf Pine, Post, Spanish (red), and (true) Eed Oaks. Some- 
what ashy, color yellowish buff. No. 2 is subsoil of same, taken 
to a depth from 9 to 20 inches. Color orange yellow, rather 
sandy Joam. 



No. 1 No. 2 

Insoluble Matter 88.980 77.931 

Potash 0.218 0.266 

Soda ..„, 0.076 0.072 

Lime... 0.034 0.152 

Magnesia 0.806 0.352 

Manganese 0.072 0.091 

Peroxide Iron 2.402 5.456 

Alumina , 3.783 11.870 

Phosphoric Acid 0.036 0.043 

Sulphuric Acid 0.038 0.035 

Organic Matter and Water 3.446 3.261 



100.202 99.934 

Dr. Hilgard remarks that these analyses show : Ist. That 
both the soil and subsoil are considerably below the average in 
native fertility, i. e., the absolute amount of nutritive ingredients 
contained in them. 2d. That there is but a small difference in 
this respect between soil and subsoil, being, nevertheless, de- 
cidedly in favor of subsoil, especially with regard to lime in which 
the surface soil is unusually poor. There is one important differ- 
ence, however, in the retentiveness of the two materials, the sur- 
face soil being defective in this particular, while the subsoil 
possesses the property in a degree somewhat unusual in ma- 
terials of equal lightness. These facts offer very important sug- 
gestions concerning the improvement of these soils. They show 
that stimulant manures alone will be of little avail on this soil, 
which, being naturally poor,, will require nutritive manures to sup- 
ply the deficiency. They show that these manures will be but 
slightly retained in the surface soil, but powerfully so in the sub- 
soU ; hence deep plowing and subsoiling will be necessary in or- 
der not only to increase the retentiveness of the surface soil but 
also to make the subsoil accessible to the roots, thereby diminish- 
ing also, the liability to injury by drouth ; thus treated the land 
will be susceptible of improvement to any extent. Without deep 
plowing, the manure will, to a great extent, be carried beyond the 
reach of plants. 

Remarks on Tertiary Soils. Nearly all these soils (save 
those in prairies and bottoms) require nutritive manures for 
their improvement. And if the subsoil be of a character which 
will admit of improvement, the means at the command of the 
farmer is adequate for its enrichment. Pine straw, which ex- 
ists in such large quantities, though heretofore regarded as of 
doubtful utility as a manure, has by analysis, yielded such re- 
sults as to commend it to the use of every farmer in the 
country. According to Dr. HUgard this straw contains, whea 



219 

burnt, two and one-half per cent, of ash, which yielded, upon 
analysis, the following result: 

Silica with sand 65.242 

Potash , 5.530 

Soda 0.416 

Lime , 13.860 

Magnesia 6.208 

Manganese 1.681 

Peroxide of Iron 0.141 

Alumina 4.539 

Phosphoric Acid .• , 1.154 

Sulphuric Acid 0.894 

Chloride of Potassium 1.479 



100.148 



We find here notable quantities of all valuable plant food. 
Pine straw, therefore, properly decayed and applied to the soil, 
supplies those mineral ingredients which cultivated plants re- 
move. A ton of freshly fallen pine straw will supply potash 
and Phosphoric Acid enough for a 500 pound bale of lint cot- 
ton, provided seed, stalk, etc., be carefully returned. Other 
crops, such as wheat, corn, etc., will_require larger quantities 
of straw, and the addition also of superphosphate. But whUe 
pine straw is so valuable as a fertilizer, it should never be 
used without being first thoroughly composted. This is easily 
accomplished by mixing it with lime, ashes, or some of the valu- 
able marls, found everywhere throughout this part of the State. 
Wherever practicable, muck and some kinds of clay would prove 
valuable additions to the compost heap. By utilizing the straw 
which falls upon 3 acres, in manuring one, small farms of con- 
siderable produtiveness could be everywhere established 
throughout this part of the State — farms which would be admirably 
adapted for garden products and fruits. This section of the State, 
together with the part south of Mobile, is, from position, climate, 
and soil, pre-eminently adapted to the raising of early vegetables 
and fruits, for the Northern markets, and recently, since oppor- 
tunities for rapid transportation have been afforded by several of 
our main lines of railroad leading North, a large and thriving 
business has been carried on. This business is on the incftease, 
and it would not be surprising to see this country now, so thinly 
settled, in a short while filled with a thrifty and industrious class 
of market gardeners and fruit growers — such as now occupy the 
shores of New Jersey and Virginia, (around Norfolk). This 
country has now an industry of gigantic proportions. The tim- 
ber interest is enormous, and large quantities are shipped annu- 
ally from Mobile and Pensacola, to all parts of the world. 



THE QUATERNARY, OR POST TERTIARY. 

These formations i^ Alabama are represented : 1st. By" the 
Drift, or Orange sand, corresponding perhaps to the drift of the 
Northern States, and forming the surface soil of much of the 
country already described. So much has therefore been neces- 
sarily said of this formation in connection with the other periods, 
that further comments would be superJEluous. 2d. The Bluff for- 
mation, occurs along the lower Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, 
and consists of yellow calcareous fine-grained silt, overlying the 
Drift, and is itself overlaid, by, 3d., the Yellow Loam so often 
found overlying, like the Orange sand, much of the State, es- 
pecially the Southern portion. 4th. The Second Bottoms, and 
5th, the Alluvium, represented in this State by small but valuable 
areas of arable lands, make up the remainder of this forma- 
tion. No proper discussion of these soils can be made, since 
they must vary in character and composition according to the 
pre-existing soils, from which they were formed. The last (5th) 
are annually enriched by the overflows of streams bringing along 
with the mineral matter much partially decayed vegetation. 



In the limits of a few pages, it is impossible to give more than 
an outline of the soils of Alabama, but enough has been said, I 
hope, to convince every reader that the State of Alabama, for 
native fertility of her soils and manurial resources, is not inferior 
to any State in the Union. Add to these her position, her genial 
climate, her extensive means of transportation, her postal facili- 
ties, her numerous churches, her school system, good water, and 
fine health, and nothing is wanting to make her, as she is, one of 
the most desirable countries in the world. 



Part Eleventh. 



The Forests of Alabama, and their Products,* 

BY 

CHABLES MOHB, OF MOBILE, ALABAMA. 



The fifty thousand square miles which make up the area of 
this State were, originally, a nearly unbroken forest — it may be said 
up to the end of the first quarter of this century ; with the excep- 
tion of a comparatively small area of prairie land, and grassy 
savannas in the southern portion of its centre. According to the 
latest statistics f, seven-tenths of this forest are still existing, 
amounting to 20,630,963 acres; some of it culled of its largest 
timber growth, but the greater part in its virgin state, scarcely 
touched by the axe. One-half of the lands owned by the farmers 
are yet wood lands. The heaviest timbered lands are found 
in the southern part of the State within the great maritime pine 
belt, where the forest area amounts to 66 per cent.; in the cen- 
tral counties, situated in the prairie region and embracing the 
cotton belt, it amounts to 45 per cent.; in the broken, mountain- 
eous part, embracing the mineral region and extending to the 
waters of the Tennessee river, to nearly 70 per cent.; and in the 
northern part, with the rich agricultural land in the Tennessee 
valley, to 60 per cent. 

According to the distribution of the prevailng trees, determined 
by climatic influences, the nature of the soil, and the topographic 
features of the country, the forests of this State present 
three characteristic regions. Distinct as they are by peculiar 
features, their boundaries cannot be defined by a distinct line — 
one region passing almost imperceptibly into the other. 

The first, or lower, region is formed by the great pine belt of 
the Gulf coast— the continuation of the immense pine forest 
which extends from the eastern bank of the Mississippi to the 
shores of the Atlantic ocean. It covers the southern part, unin- 
terruptedly, from east to west, and extends from one hundred to 

* Written expressly for this BLand-Book. — — . 

fEeport of Department of Agriculture, :_for 1875. 



222 

one hundred and fifty miles into the interior. This area is almost 
exclusively occupied by coniferous trees — the undulating dry and 
sandy uplands entirely by the long leaved, or yellow pine, the most 
important while most valuable of our timber trees, which arrives 
here at its greatest perfection. On the lands more level and with 
a substratum more retentive of moisture, it is accompanied by 
the pond pine, and the loblolly, or old field pine. Following the 
sandy and gravelly deposits of the drift, the limits of that forma- 
tion determine the northern boundary of the pine region, proper. 
A growth of pine trees, however, prevails wherever the siliceous 
constituents of the drift soil mingle with the outcrops of the tertiary 
strata. This is the great timber region of the State. Traversed 
centrally and towards the east by the numerous tributaries of the 
Escambia river, a large share of its products finds an outlet in 
Pensacola ; westwardly the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers with 
their affluents, offer an access to the sea by the port of MobUe ; 
whUe a small portion along the western boundary line of the 
State by the eastern tributaries of the Esquatawba river is 
attracted to the mills and wharves along the Pascagoula river. 
The products of this forest ef yellow pine assume, with every 
year, a greater importance to the business of the Gulf ports ; 
and their exports from the seaport of this State, entering only 
since the beginning of this decade in competition with its neigh- 
bors, show a steady and rapid increase in the production and 
export of sawed lumber, square timber, spars, shingles, and par- 
ticularly in the receipt of naval stores. A proper idea of the 
great wealth offered by this lumber region of our State, almost 
exclusively derived from one single species of Pine, will be 
gained from the following statements taken from the reports of 
The Mobile Board of Trade, exhibiting the receipts and exports 
of lumber and naval stores from that port since the year 1872 to 
the present time : the exports of sawed lumber amounting in 
1872, to 4,000,000 feet, increased to 7,000,000 in the following 
year, to 12,000,000 in 1876, to 18,000,000 in 1877, and it can be 
safely assumed that in this year (1878) the export will not fall 
short of 20,000,000 feet, representing a value of at least $200,000. 
The production of naval stores exhibits an equally rapid 
increase. The rosin and spirits of turpentine reaching the 
Mobile market from the adjacent country, in 1873, amounted to 
$750,000, showing already, at that period, an increase of 50 per 
cent, over the production of any former year; increasing to over 
$1,000,000 in 1874; and in the year 1876, the receipts were much 
greater, their value amounting to $1,200,000, involving a vastly 



223 

increased production by the much reduced prices of these articles 
ruling during the last two years. In these sums, the quantities 
required for home consumption are not included. If those, and 
the quantities of sawed lumber and squared timber derived from 
the pine belt within the confines of our State, and which are 
exported from Pensacola, so far the chief centre of the lumber 
business on this coast, are considered, the amounts given above 
will certainly be doubled. Lastly, with the exhaustion of the 
yellow pine forest that encircled Pensacola bay, and of those 
in convenient reach upon the coast of continental Florida, a very 
large quota of the saw logs are drawn from Alabama by the trib- 
utaries and head waters of the Escambia and the Perdido river. 
The average height of the yellow pine in the virgin forest is 
from sixty to seventy feet, with a diameter of 12 to 18 inches for 
two-thirds of its height. It is of slow growth, particularly at the 
later periods of its life. According to the number of annual 
rings, trees of the above dimensions must have reached an age 
of 60 to 70 years. The reproduction of a tree from the seed, fur- 
nishing an equal supply of timber, would at this rate take about 
two generations. It is a poor seeder, as the younger Michaux ob- 
served. In unfruitful years, a forest of hundreds of miles may 
be ransacked without finding a single cone, and these, according 
to my observations, are far more frequent than fruitful ones. In 
its struggle for existence in our days, the odds of a survival of 
its kind amongst the arborescent vegetation that disputes itg 
ground are greatly against it. Taken from the flat and moist 
lands, and it is replaced almost exclusively by the pond and old 
fiield pine; the hilly, broken, dry upland, denuded of the grand 
old pine forest, is with surprising rapidity covered by a dense 
and scrubby growth of blackjack, turkey oak, scarlet and upland 
willow oak, above which, seldom a young yellow pine raises its head, 
crowned with its large white-fringed terminal bud. Full of resin- 
ous juices, through all stages of its life, the young trees are not 
as able to withstand the raging fires that annually devastate the 
woods, as the less resinous species, and the deciduous leafed 
trees ; besides that being of much 'slower growth, this noble tree 
is doomed to extinction, if not protected by the aid of man. On 
tracts sheltered from the invasion of fire, groves of young trees, 
from 15 to 20 feet high, can be observed around Mobile, testify- 
ing that its existence for the future can in some measure be se- 
cured, if protected from these destructive influences, unneces- 
sarily caused by man. The utmost efforts by an enlightened 
community, should be made through active and efficient State 



224 

legislation, without further delay, to guard against the calamity 
of a total destruction of such a magnificent estate entrusted to 
the hands of our people. Besides its ^contributions to the mani- 
fold necessities of the agriculturist, the builder, in naval architec- 
ture, the construction of railroads, the arts, medicine, and the in- 
numerable smaller demands of domestic economy and the varied 
industries of the world, the influences of this great pine belt upon 
the climatic conditions and the salubrity of this coast are even 
of more far reaching importance to the interest of the commu- 
nity at large, extending far outside of its confines. Bearing its 
horizontally outspreading limbs high up into the atmospheric 
ocean, their branches densely clothed with the long, slender 
leaves, the forest of these trees present to the canopy of heaven, 
for many hundred of square miles, an unbroken sheet of perpet- 
ually active vegetation, whose forces at such an altitude affect a 
constant attraction to the fleeting clouds, causing them to deposit 
their life-giving and supporting humidity, in grateful showers 
over a very large area with wonderful regularity during all 
seasons. To this fact is due the delightful climate of this part of 
our country, equalizing its temperature particularly in tempering 
the rigors of the long summers of a region near the tropics. Dur- 
ing the great progress in meteorological science of late years, the 
fact has been established that in their exercise upon the cpndi- 
tions of the atmosphere as regards the precipitation of its mois- 
ture, the pine trees stand unrivalled amongst all other trees of 
the forest. Bobbed of this protection, the hills and plains of the 
Gulf region, now blooming and clothed with the richest verdue, 
would be arid and parched, presenting as forbidding and austere 
an aspect as those of the denuded coasts of Africa along the 
Mediterranean sea, devoid of productive power, and unfit for the 
habitation of civilized man, smarting under the scorching rays of 
the sun. The efforts of nature are ever directed to recuperation 
jn its aims to insure the existence of different forms of the living 
organisms from generation to generation. To secure to our pos- 
terity the blessings enjoyed by us by its bounty, in assisting 
these efforts as dictatecl by her laws, is a stern duty imposed 
upon us. Its discharge in thfe prevention of a wanton destruc- 
tion of our forests, and the adoption of measures regulated by 
the light of science, common sense, and the proper regard to the 
future of our State, should engage the attention of every intel- 
ligent and patriotic citizen, appealing particularly to the owners 
of the soil. Of little importance to agriculture and industry, are 
the other species of pines found in this region. Of considerably 



225 

smaller dimensions than the yellow pine, and of a soft and sappy 
wood, they have, as timber trees, but a small value. On ac- 
count of their rapid growth, they are, however, important re- 
sources of fire wood, and of a lumber of inferior quality, fit for 
ordinary purposes, as the manufacture of boxes, etc. 

Next to the yellow pine in importance, follows the Cypress — 
Taxadium desUclmm. It grows in great abundance on the per- 
petually overflowed banks of, and in the marshes skirting, the 
rivers in the tide water region, as well as the deep inundated 
swamps in the pine region from which issue the feeders of the 
inumerable creeks that water the pine belt. Here, it reaches 
gigantic dimensions — trunks from a hundred and more feet in 
height, and from twenty-five to forty feet in circumference above 
the conical base, are frequently met with in the forest swamps of 
the Tensaw river. Logs, of three to four feet in diameter, are 
often floated down to the shingle yards and saw mills of Mobile. 
Its lumber finds a variety of application. It is mostly sawed into 
planks for exportation, lately in increasing quantities ; much of it 
is used in the manufacture of doors, window-sashes, and other 
cabinet work, and in that of shingles. For posts, it is scarcely 
rivaled, resisting the actioli of water for ages. 

The Juniper,— Cupressus thyoides, is gaining, of late years, with 
the manufacture of wooden ware, the attention which by the ex- 
cellent qualities of its wood, it deserves. This fine tree is found 
in great perfection on the low land skirting our great rivers, and 
in the large forest swamps of the low pine barrens, preferring a 
partially inundated soil. Soft, light, easily worked, of a fine 
grain admitting of high finish and pleasing hue, when well 
seasoned its wood offers the finest material, particularly for the 
manufacture of hollowware. This industry, lately established in 
Mobile, is capable of great development, as by the inexhaustible 
supply of timber within easy reach, such goods can be made 
cheaper here than in any other part of the United States. 

The Live Oak — Quercus virens, has ceased to be a source of 
timber here. The excellent qualities of its wood, particularly 
fitting it for ship bulldiug, has, like everywhere else on the Gulf 
coast, led to a rapid destruction of the stately groves that ex- 
tended along our seashore. It is only by the effort of the own- 
ers of the land who have a love for that which is grand and lovely 
in nature, that these beautiful and noble trees will be preserved, 
and not cease to form one of the most pleasing features in the 
landscape of our coast. 

The black jack, turkey oak, Spanish oak, upland willow oak, 



226 

and a more or less scrubby growth of black and red oaks, with a 
sprinkling of hickory, form the second growth on the denuded 
dry pine land. These furnish the supply of hard fire-wood. The 
growth of these trees on the poor looking lands is indeed sur- 
prising, forming, after fifteen or twenty years, when protected 
from fire, fine large groves. The water ash, growing with the 
sweet bay and juniper, in the low, inundated swamps, must be 
mentioned as one of the trees furnishing much of the fire wood. 
The light, yet tenaceous, wood of the sweet bay, is much used for 
broom handles. The grand and sober monotony that charac- 
terizes the pine forest, finds a pleasant relief in the thickets and 
glades of evergreen shrubs and various smaller trees which fringe 
the water courses and swamps. The red bay, sweet bay, small 
gum tree, wax myrtle, with a dense growth of the ti-ti^ inter- 
spersed by dahoons, hollys, and red maple, intertwined by a va- 
riety of climbers and vines, thorny, like those belonging to the 
different kinds of smilax, adorned with flowers, as the yellow jes- 
samine, the graceful wistaria, and peculiar cross vine, form impreg- 
nable thickets, the home of the wild cat, the panther, and the 
bear. The lands above high water, in the maratime plains of the 
pine region, with a soil richer in vegetable mould, are the home 
of the lofty magnolias, the live oak, water oak, associated with 
the pond pine. These are called hammock lands. They harbor 
an undergrowth of shrubbery unsurpassed in variety and beauty. 
There the sweet illicium, and the calycanthus, or spice shrub, are 
found, with rich blooming andromedas, blueberries, azalias, and 
the gorgeously blooming kalmia, or sheepslaurel. There the fra- 
grant storax shrubs, the delicate halesia and fringe tree, with the 
cyrilla, stuartia and clethra, unfold their snowy flowers, with 
many others, delighting the eye, by the richness of their bloom, 
from the earliest beginning of the spring to the end of the sum- 
mer, offering a lasting feast to the bee, which for the largest part 
of the year is here found to gather the sweet treasures, distilled 
in the flowery cups. As a honey producing country, this district 
can be scarcely rivaled. 

Where the limestones and the marls of the tertiary and cre- 
taceous formation begin to prevail, free from the cover of sandy 
drift soil, the second forest region of the State is entered. Here 
the evergreens give way to the largely preponderating trees with 
deciduous leaves, and the pine is confined to the poor ridges and 
thinnest soils. The forest growth is originally interrupted by 
more or less extensive savannas. The post oak covers, in exten- 
sive tracts, the stiver calcareous soils. .White oaks, the overcup 



227 

oak, and the willow oak, with ash trees, elms, walnuts and hickories, 
cover the richer black lands, composing fine woods, full of useful 
timber of large dimensions. As a timber region for export, it 
has yet no importance, only a limited quantity of oak staves 
reach the seaboard by the Mobile and Tombigbee rivers. The 
richest agricultural districts of the State are embraced in these 
regions. At its northern limits it borders upon a deposit of 
drift, which traverses the State from northwest to southeast, 
4 to 5 miles wide at its southern, reaching gradually towards its 
northern end a width of 30 to 35 miles. Like the great coast pine 
belt, it is covered with an almost continuous forest of the yellow 
pine, whose products so far serve only to supply the demand of 
the surrounding country. 

Beyond this drift belt, in the eastern half of the State, the 
generous red lands of the metamorphic region are covered, where 
not deprived of it by cultivation, with magnificent oak forests. 
Here, at an altitude of from 800 to 1,200 feet above the level of the 
Gulf, the types of a Southern vegetation are missing, but the 
occurrence of the water and willow oak, the overcup and Spanish 
oak, as well as the frequency of large yellow pines, which cover 
the crests of the elevated rocky mountain ranges, and the more 
barren hills with a rocky, siliceous soil, still impress on this re- 
gion, a Southern character. The latter tree is replaced, gradually, 
towards the north, by the short leaved pine, Finns mitis, which fur- 
nishes, in the upper district, a great part of the lumber of excellent 
quality. The more sterile and broken mountainous country, east 
and west, embracing the mineral lands of the State, is covered 
with dense forests of black and red oaks, the smooth hickory, 
sparsely intermixed with scrub pines. In the more elevated 
ranges, the mountain chestnut oaks, and the chestnut tree, prevail, 
the latter rapidly dying out. The numerous fertile valleys are har- 
boring fine woods, composed of trees delighting in a richer soil. 

The third and most northern sylvan region of the State begins 
with the limestone formation of the Tennessee valley. Species 
of the woody vegetation, characteristic of the lower latitudes, 
are no more seen, or when met with, as dwarfed stragglers. The 
maples, the tall hickories, the stately elms, walnuts, wild cherry, 
hackberries, nettle trees, with shady groves of beach, make up 
the forest growth, bearing the same character as the forest flora 
of the western declivity of the Appalacian Mountains, south of 
the Ohio river. The Southern magnolias are represented here by 
the umbrella tree, the cucumber tree, and the mighty white pop- 
lar, or tulip tree. 



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Part Twelfth. 



The Grasses^ and other Forage Plants of Alahama — Indigenous, 
Naturalised, and Cultivated. * 

BT 

CHARLES MOHB, MOBILE, ALABAMA.. 



Tbe great grazing capabilities of the richer lands in the inte- 
rior of this State, are fully established and appreciated. A less 
favorable opinion in that respect prevails regarding its Southern 
portion, where stock raising, and the methodic manufacture of the 
products of the dairy have been deemed not successful. In the light 
of the experiences of late years, such ideas are rapidly disappear- 
ing, and the attention of the farmer in the lower region is now 
earnestly directed to this fundamental basis of his enduring pros- 
perity. If we miss here the meadow in the strict sense of the 
word, which forms such a striking feature in the system of agri- 
culture, carried on in Northern latitudes, the South has in its 
spontaneous grasses, and in several cultivated species from the 
warmer regions of the Old World, resources of the same kind, 
in no respect inferior. Considering that many of these plants 
arrive at their maturity at a much earlier part of the season, 
making room for successive crops, that others continue to vege- 
tate for several months longer, under the influences of a pro- 
longed warm season, permitting of repeated cuttings, while some 
grow during a great part of the winter months, the production 
of fat and flesh producing materials, in the shape of green forage, 
hay, and in the pasture, must, by equal care and attention, reach 
here, larger proportions than in higher latitudes, where, for 
'nearly one half the year, this work, in the great laboratory of 
nature, in consequence of earlier and later frosts, is stopped. 

All doubts about these capabilities, even of the sub-tropical 
belt, and the lighter sandy soils throughout the pine region, will 
be dispelled by the sight of the rich verdure of a Bermuda grass 
pasture, or the waving fields of crab grass covering the ground 
after the removal of the corn, or earlier root crops, producing 

• Written expressly for this Hand-Book. 



237 

with but little extra expense for moderate fertilizing", rich feeding 
grounds, and tons of sweet odorous hay of the highest quality. 
If many of the most valuable gregarious meado^ grasses of the 
North do not thrive with us under the influences of longer sum- 
mers, and perhaps a drier atmosphere, our farmers find in the cul- 
ture of the larger but not less palatable and nutritious grasses 
introduced from the warmer zones, ample substitutes. The ex- 
periments made in these respects have leo^d to highly encourage- 
ing results, of which the intelligent husbandman, with every 
year, is more availing himself. Of these, having come only of 
late years into use, I will mention the following : 

Fanieum jumentorum, Guinea grass, a native of Africa, most 
extensively cultivated throughout the tropics. It is planted with 
us in the beginning of April ; admits the first cutting dur- 
ing the last week of May ; it makes very large bunches, and 
is to be cut before extending to the height of about 18 inches. 
In that stage it is very sweet, tender, and easily cured as hay. 
In moderately fertilized land and favorable seasons, it can be cut 
every 5 or 6 weeks, yielding by its throwing out numerous 
stolons, (stools) increased crops, until killed down by frost. 
The roots are easily protected during the winter, by a good cov- 
ering with ground, like the ratoons of sugar cane, and allowing of 
a manifold division afford the best means of propagation. These 
root cuttings are set out in March or the beginning of April. 
Similar in habit, and affording crops of the same nature, is the 

Sorghum halleppense, improperly also called Guinea grass. It 
is a perennial, and where it has taken hold with its large, fleshy, 
creeping root stocks, is hard to get rid of. Extensive trials with 
this grass have been made in this State, where it is called John- 
son grass, and it has proven to yield crops of great abundance, as 
it can be mowed about a half dozen times during the season. 

Pennicilaria spicata, the cat tail millet, also of African deriva- 
tion, has been successfully cultivated throughout this State. It 
yields large crops when well manured, and affords as many cut- 
tings, of a rich forage, but its curing is much more difficult, con- 
sequently, as a hay crop, it will be dismissed for the Guinea 
grass. 

Setaria Italiea, the millet or Bengal grass, with large nod- 
ding compound spikes, and Setaria Oermanica, a smaller form of 
it, cultivated as Hungarian grass, with smaller, slender, mostly 
purple spikes, frequently cultivated and easily cured; yielding 
early in the season heavy crops of good hay. 

The number of native grasses in the State is large, embracing 



238 

certainly half of the number of species indigenous to the Eastern 
United States. I have observed and collected in Southern and 
Central Alabama 132 species, belonging to 53 genera, including 
those few derived from other parts of the world which have 
gained a firm foothold in our flora, propagating their kind spon- 
taneously. Of course these grasses differ much in value : many 
are entirely worthless, others of more or less value, if compared 
with those of the highest merits on account of their richness in 
life-sustaining and blood or fat-producing qualities. Scientifically, 
it has never been demonstrated which, in that regard, are to be 
placed at the head of the list, as no analyses of any of them have 
been made. It is indeed a most meritorious work in which, at 
present, the Department of Agriculture, in Washington, is en- 
gaged in instituting a line of analytical researches at its 
laboratories to supply this greatly desired information. Samples 
of the grasses from this section, deemed the most important on 
account of their frequency, distribution, and habit, have been, by 
request, forwarded to the Department to be analyzed. In the 
following lines the grasses considered as more or less valuable 
are mentioned to attract the attention of those interested, which, 
by a mere mention of names in the catalogue, can not be achieved 

Hydrochloa Carolinemis, Bauv. A soft, tender, short grass, 
creeping on the muddy banks of the creeks in the pine woods, 
floating in patches in their more gently flowing waters. It is per- 
ennial, and vegetates all winter, when it is particularly sought 
for by cattle. 

Alopecurus pratensis^ L. and A., geniculatus, L., the meadow 
foxtails of Europe where they are esteemed as valuable meadow 
grasses, are sparsely naturalized with us. 

Agrostis alba, B. Fiorine or white bent grass, naturalized from 
Europe, is frequent in low fields and cultivated grounds. It is 
perennial and the densely tufted stems surrounded by the 
long, narrow tender leaves, bear spreading panicles of pale 
flowers. It will stand our summers well and prove for this 
section what the red top is for the North. 

Muehlenhergia Mexicana, Tr., and M. diffusa, are perennial, 
more or less decumbent grasses, with slender stems and short, 
narrow, soft leaves, growing in damp woods and thickets, and are 
much liked by cattle and horses. 

Cynodon Dactylon., Per. Bermuda grass, perhaps introduced, 
widespread over the maritime regions, thriving in the arid barren 
driftsands on the seashore, covering them by its long creeping 
stems, whose deeply penetrating roots impart firmness to a soil 



239 

which else would ever remain devoid of vegetation. It is 
esteemed as one of the most valuable of our grasses either in 
the pasture or cured as hay. As there has been much written 
about its merits they need here no further mention. 

Leptochloa mucronata, Kunth., annual, two to three feet high, 
with broad, somewhat hairy leaves ; the small flowers are borne 
in numerous slender spikes almost horizontally attached to the 
main stem, forming an elongated raceme ; abundant in cultivated 
grounds ; a soft, good grass. 

JSatonia ohtusata and mucronata. Vernal, perennial, slender 
grasses, growing in small tufts in dry grounds, on roadsides, 
borders of woods, etc. 

Arimdinaria gigantea: Oane : The largest of our. grasses, 
reaching the dimensions of a small tree ; in some respects one of 
the most important of our truly native grasses. It covers along 
the low borders of our rivers large tracts, called cane-breaks, as 
well as the rich forest swamps bordering upon them in the low 
country, affording throughout all seasons of the year an 
abundance of highly nutritious food. 

Arundinaria tecta: Smaller cane; reed; does not attain the 
dimensions of the last ; ripens its farinaceous, large, early drop- 
ping seeds in February and March; after that, thriving new branches 
covered with a very rich foliage of the richest verdure ; prefers 
the better soils not subject to inundation, and forms the es- 
teemed range of the so-called hammock lands ; fire destroys it 
rapidly. 

Festuca unioloides: Drooping fescue. A slender, perennial, 
growing in the more central districts, from where it was sent to 
me for determination by parties who speak highly of it. 

Uniola latifolia: A fine perennial two to three feet, with 
long, flat leaves, bearing the flat spikelets on slender drooping 
stalks in a loose panicle ; is frequent towards the centre of the 
State, growing in large tufts, and judging from its foliage a grass 
of good quality. 

Bronms Schraderi: Only of late years found spreading in 
different parts of the State ; annual ; makes its appearance in 
February ; grows in tufts, its numerous leafy stems growing from 
two to three feet high ; ripens the seed in May ; affords in the 
earlier months of spring a much relished nutritious food, as well 
as a good hay. 

Rolcus lanatus: Velvet grass : This of late has attracted some 
attention, fully merited, as it grows with great rapidity during the 
early spring season, and is ready for mowing in the beginning of 



24© 

May; affords large crops of fine, sweet hay; fields with^erops of 
this grass raised near Mobile, present^^a splendid, luxuriant ap- 
pearance ; is worth a place in the front of our pasture or hay 
grasses; has been absurdly called Mesquite grass and said to 
come from Texas ; is a native of Europe and there regarded as a 
valuable perennial meadow grass. 

Arrhenatherum avenaceum: Oat grass : A fine perennial, much 
of the aspect of oats, with a stem two to three feet in height, 
with broadly linear leaves. Samples received this season from 
Mississippi, taken from lots cut for hay, present the appearance 
of a thrifty, luxuriant, largely yielding hay grass, well adapted for 
our soils and climate. 

Phalaris intermedia: An annual native, peculiar to the lower 
region of the South ; its tall, somewhat stout stems, bear broad 
leaves and flowers in a dense cylindric terminal spike, two to 
four inches long, and from one-half to three-fourths of an inch 
thick, resembling the heads of timothy. It is asserted that stock 
of all kinds is very fond of it, either green, or cured as hay ; 
is common along our seashore in gravelly soils intermixed with 
some vegetable mould. 

Panicum (Bigitaria) sanguinale: Crab grass: This annual, 
thoroughly naturalized from Europe, is too well known to need 
further description here, and its merits as one of the chief hay 
crops of the South, in regard to quality and quantity, are sufS- 
ciently appreciated by all interested, to be spoken of any further, 
here. 

Panicum (Digitaria) filiformis : Is the native form of crab 
grass: Is common in the coast region of the Atlantic slope and 
the Gulf: Its stem is erect, bearing its florets in erect, slender 
spikes : Very common, but hard and dry, and not much relished 
by cattle. 

The Panics proper, are represented in our flora by a great 
number of species, forming a large part of our gramineous veg- 
etation : They are mostly perennials, growing in the most dif- 
ferent soils, and some of the gregarious species covering large 
tracts of ground, are a prominent feature of our range : In the 
young and tender state, all afford, more or less, valuable nutri- 
ment: The larger species, with but few exceptions, soon get 
harsh and dry, and arrived at maturity, are mostly unpalatable ; 
the genus (Panicum) is known by its nearly globose spikelets 
bearing one perfect floret : The more or less slender flower stalks 
are disposed in panicles, on the main stem : Seeds are all mealy 
and nutritious, and the smaller, more delicate species, are, on 



241 

that account, even when dry, not without value : Some of the most 
valuable grasses imported from the tropics of the Old Worldi 
and cultivated in the warmer zones of this continent, belong to 
this genus : One of our native species rivalling these in sweet- 
ness and nutritious qualities, in my opinion, is the 

Fanicum proliferum, a large succulent, annual grass, putting 
forth its numerous tender branches throughout the latter part of 
the summer ; it grows 3 to 4 feet or more in height, stands cut- 
ting well, and cattle and horses are very fond of it. 

Panicum Grus Galli : Also an annual, 2 to 3 feet high, bearing 
its hispidly awned flowers, in dense one-sided panicles, composed 
of numerous crowded spikes ; is found growing luxuriantly, par- 
ticularly in the low lands of the coast; is greedily eaten by 
horses and cattle, and makes fine hay of good quality. 

Andropogon Scoparius: Broomsedge: One of our most 
common grasses, covering old fields, fencerows, and extensively 
growing in the dry sandy soils of the pine woods : Much des- 
pised as this grass is as a troublesome, unsightly weed, it has its 
good qualities, which entitle it to a more charitable consideration : 
In the dry pine woods, it contributes while green and tender, a 
large share to the sustenance of the stock : From a statement in 
the Report of the Department of Agriculture, (1874), I perceive 
that in the great plains of the West, it is regarded as one of the 
very best of the forage resources of that great grazing country. 
East of the Mississippi, it has always been looked upon as 
worthless. 

Of native forage plants belonging to other natural families, we 
possess a few valuable Leguminosae, plants of the pea tribe, par- 
ticularly of the genus Desmodium. 

Desmodium acuminatum^ and D. nudiflorum, common all over 
the States east of the Mississippi, and much esteemed as 
nutritious, milk-producing plants, are frequent in rich, shady 
woods through this State. Other species, peculiar to its southern 
section, are said to be valuable, and are even cultivated in Florida, 
but they are more or less hard and dry, the stiff stems but scantily 
clothed with leaves. The Besmodiums are known under the name 
of Tick trifoil, or tick-seeds, from the flat-jointed hispid seedpots 
that attach themself to the hair and^^fleece of animals and the 
clothing. 

The Lespedeza striata^ Japanese Clover, belongs to this family; 
introduced from Eastern Asia, it has, during the last decade, over- 
spread the Southern States from the Atlantic shores to the banks 
of the Mississippi. Cattle and horses are eating it. Of its value 



242 

as a nutritive food, I can not speak. The analysis to be soon ex- 
pected from the National Department of Agriculture will soon 
decide upon its merits. 

Several species of Vetches or tares, Vioia, deserve attention. 
The European tare, Vicia sativa, is almost naturalized in many- 
parts of this State, thriving luxuriantly ; its rich flowering vines 
reach three to four feet in height, early in AprU on the coast ; 
much cultivated in Europe as a favorite green crop for milk cows ; 
is entitled to more attention from our diary men than it has re- 
ceived. 

Along the seaboard of this State, the so-called Mexican clover, 
Eichardsonia scahra, is found spreading extensively ; it covers the 
sandy upland soils completely with its succulent prostrate leafy 
stems bearing the small white funnel-form flowers, in terminal 
heads, and whorls in the axils of the leaves. In regard to its nu- 
tritive value, it is scarcely inferior to clover ; horses, cattl"fe and 
sheep are fond of it, particularly of the hay. A detailed account, 
with an analysis of the plant by the Department, is found in the 
Report of 1874. As a green manure, it is of the greatest benefit 
to the farmer in the lower pine region. 

Very valuable as affording rich, nutritious pasture ground, in 
the earliest parts of spring, is the Spurge^ or Spergula arvensw^ a 
low annual with prostrate diffuse, succulent, jointed stems, bear- 
ing whorls of small, narrow, linear leaves, and the small, greenish 
white flowers attached to slender stalks. This plant seeds 
abundantly in April ; with the appearance of the warm seasons 
it dries up and disappears completely, re-appearing during the 
sunny days in the latter part of the winter, and not liable to be 
after that injured by frost; is held in high repute in the low 
countries of Western Europe by the diary men, and the butter 
produced from the milk of cows feeding on this earliest of all 
pasture plants enjoys a particular reputation for its fine flavor as 
Spurge butter. 



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50 t- 00 Oi o 



Part Thirteenth. 



The Agricultural Divisions, CapahilitieSf and Advantages of Alabama. 



The consideration of the Geology, Soils, and Forage Plants of 
Alabama, in Parts Nine, Ten, and Twelve, respectively, necessarily 
involved a more or less general discussion of these subjects, and it 
only remains in this place to particularise as far as possible, and 
present such statistics of the agricultural productions of the State 
as may be accessible: and this will be found to be anything but 
an easy task, as Alabama has no Department charged with the 
duty of collecting such statistics. 

Prof. Stubbs, especially, has shown in Part Ten, from a scientific 
standpoint, the various soils of the State, their elements, and for 
what crops mainly adapted : hence it will be unnecessary to recur 
here to any of the topics discussed in his paper. 

Not to go over the ground covered by him and others, it may, 
however, be stated in this connection that in an ordinary agricul- 
tural point of view, the divisions of Alabama are three fold, viz : 
1st, the Pine Belt ; 2d, the BlacTc, or Cotton Belt ; 3d, the Eed and 
Grey Lands of the Northern, Central-Eastern, and North-Eastern 
portions of the State. These divisions are quite plainly defined, 
and it is proposed to treat of them in the order in which they have 
been mentioned. 

1st. The Pine Belt. A straight line drawn across the State 
from east to west, along the thirty-first parallel of latitude, to the 
eastern boundary of Baldwin county, and then bending southward 
so as to include the lower portions of the counties of Baldwin 
and Mobile ; and another, but irregular line, about sixty miles 
further to the north, also running across the State from east to 
west, and passing through or near the towns of Louisville, Troy, 
Greenville, Camden, and Nanafalia, would mark, approximately, the 
boundaries of this, first, division. It includes the whole tier of 
the lower counties of the State, and has an area of about 12,500 
square miles — or one-fourth of the State — and 8,000,000 acres. 
This region is covered throughout with a magnificent growth of 
long-leaved, or yellow pine, of immense economical value, which 
has been fully described by Dr. Mohr, in Part Eleven, and need 
not be further spoken of here. 



249 

The soils of this division are light, thin and sandy, as a rule ; 
and, as yet, have no very great agricultural value. Still, there are 
many fertile localities in this section : notably in the richer coun- 
ties of Butler, Monroe, Clarke, and Choctaw, which amply reward 
the husbandman for his labor. 

These pine lands — thin though they be — are susceptible of great 
and comparatively easy and inexpensive improvement, and have 
of late years very much increased in value for market gardening 
purposes, and will continue to increase with advancing railroad 
facilities, and the demand for early vegetables for the Northern 
markets. Prof. Stubbs, one of the best informed chemists in the 
State, has, in Part Ten, fully demonstrated that the means of their 
enrichment lie immediately at hand, in the pine straw which falls 
annually, and the marls of this section which, with this straw, make 
an admirable and inexpensive compost. 

From the nature of its soil, this pine region is peculiarly 
adapted to the root crops and the growing of vegetables. Sugar 
cane, which has entered extensively into its economy since the 
war, is grown here quite extensively, and its products rival, in 
quality, those of the famous Louisiana cane. The sweet potato 
may be said to arrive at perfection here — and its fine yams are 
celebrated, both for size and taste. No where does the water- 
melon do so well, except upon the equally as sandy soils of New 
Jersey. For size and flavor, the watermelons of this section are 
unsurpassed. The other melon crops do equally as well. 

Nearly all the varieties of vegetables can be successfully cul- 
tivated upon these soils, and their yield in this respect never fails 
to excite surprise — producing far in excess of richer but stiffer, 
and less porous soils. To the experienced gardener, this region, 
wherever railroad facilities are at hand, presents an inviting field 
for the growing of early vegetables for Northern markets. Already, 
in the neighborhood of Mobile, this industry is assuming large 
proportions ; and the shipments of green peas, beans, Irish pota- 
toes, tomatoes, cabbages, etc., amounted in 1877 to $44,000 in value, 
and it is estimated that in 1878 (the season just passed) they 
amounted to $60,000. The lands around Mdbile are identical with 
those throughout the rest of this section. Here, and elsewhere 
in this section, the season is from four to six weeks in advance of 
the season in higher latitudes ; and there is a growing demand 
for these early vegetables — the producers finding no difficulty in 
disposing of their products. The railroads leaving Mobile, recog- 
nizing the importance to them as well as to the producers of this 
growing industry, extend to its development all the aid in their 



ISO 

power, and by reduced freight charges— wMcli will decrease as 
shipments increase, and in a greater ratio — enable the producer 
to realize a fair profit. 

The growing of early fruits for Northern markets is also a prom- 
ising industry in this region, and the shipments of such show a large 
increase with each year. The peach — universally acknowledged 
to be one of the finest, if not the finest of orchard productions — 
is perfectly at home in Alabama, and no where more so than in 
this pine region. Here, with proper culture and attention, it 
reaches perfection. Here it ripens from one month to six weeks 
earlier than it does in the North and West ; and early shipments 
find a ready and remunerative sale in those markets. The ship- 
ments of the earlier kinds commence the last week in May, and 
are continued, with the other varieties in succession, to the middle 
of July. As this industry grows, will come special fast freight 
trains, and greatly reduced freight charges, and this, now com- 
paratively small industry, will assume very large proportions. To 
show the probable extent and value of this trade in the future, it 
may here be stated that the shipments of Oapt. Isaac Donavan 
(a fruit grower of Mobile county, on the line of the Mobile and 
Ohio Railroad), alone, during the season of 1877, were 6,000 boxes 
of peaches, of one-third of a bushel each, on which he realized a 
net profit of more than $5,000.* 

Certain varieties of the pear also do well in this region with 
proper culture, and shipments of the early kinds to Northern 
markets pay well. 

The strawberry grows finely and produces abundantly in this 
section, and early shipments make remunerative returns. The 
fig does well here, also ; and there is no reason why, in time, this 
region should not become a large shipper of this delicious fruit 
in its dried state. The little blue Jig of this section is unsurpassed 
for flavor. On the coast below Mobile very fine native oranges 
are produced. Many other fruits do well in this section ; only 
those for which it is peculiarly adapted having been enumerated 
above. Cotton, corn, and oats also do reasonably well, with 
judicious manuring and cultivation. The forest growth of long- 
leaved, or yellow pine affords an abundance of superior and 
accessible lumber for fencing, house building, etc., while excellent 
fuel is abundant in the scrubby oak and other groves nearly 
everywhere interspersing this section. Dr. Mohr, in Parts Eleven 
and Twelve, respectively, has spoken fully of the excellent timber 

* Hon. C. C. Langdon's address before the Blount Springs Industrial Convention, 
1877. 



251 

»and grasses of this region, and they need no further mention in 
this place. The roads are smooth and hard : excellent in winter 
and summer. Its water is abundant, pure, and wholesome ; and 
the health of these high, dry, pine lands equal to that of any 
region in the world. The exhalations from its grand old forests 
of pine are life-giving, and a sure safeguard against those great 
destroyers —consumption and cholera ; while that scourge of 
the tropics, yellow fever, was never known here outside of the 
populous cities. In the beneficent order of Nature — an order 
which does not give to any one section all the advantages, and to 
another all the disadvantages of life— it seems decreed that those 
locations the least fertile should be the most healthful, and those 
the richest the most wanting in this regard. 

So genial is the climate of this Pine Belt, its summer heats 
tempered by the moist, sweet breezes of the Gulf, which contin- 
ually blow over it during the heated term, and its winters moder- 
ated by the influence of that great river in the ocean — the warm 
Gulf Stream, that vegetation is almost perennial, and crop suc- 
ceeds to crop with scarcely any intermission. 

There are many thousand acres of these pine lands in the 
hands of the railroads and the United States government, for 
sale, which can be bought on long time, and at from one to five 
dollars an acre, according to location and improvement; while 
many acres are susceptible of entry, at nominal figures, under the 
Homestead and Pre-emption laws of the General Government. 

2d. The Black or Cotton Belt. Called blacJc from the 
dark appearance of its surface soil. The southern boundary of 
this division begins at the northern boundary of the pine region, 
and an irregular line drawn across the State from east to west, 
about 60 miles further north, and enclosing entirely or in part, the 
17 counties of Barbour, Eussell, Macon, Bullock, Elmore, Mont- 
gomery, Pike, Autauga, Lowndes, Perry, Dallas, Wilcox, Maren- 
go, Hale, Greene, Sumter, and Pickens, would mark, approxi- 
mately,, the limits of this division, which has an average width of 
60 miles and covers an area of, about, 10,000 square mUes, and 
6,500,000 acres. 

This is the great cotton producing region of Alabama, and 
hence its name of Cotton Belt. It is, also, the best Indian corn 
producing section of the State — these two being its great staples. 

As a rule, the soil of this Belt is a black prairie, of great fer- 
tility, and unsurpassed by any similar soil in the United States. 
That of the rich Cane-hrdke region, along the Alabama Central 
Eailroad, in the counties of Dallas, Marengo, and Perry, had, by 



a^2 

its fertility, acquired a national reputation prior to the war: It« 
was the lands of this Belt that, up to 1860, made Alabama the 
second cotton producing State in the Union — Mississippi ranking 
first. To illustrate the great productiveness of this region at 
that time, it is only necessary to say, that in 1860, of the total 
cotton crop of the United States— 5,387,052 bales of 400 pounds 
each, Alabama produced 989,955 bales, or nearly one-fifth of the 
total number; and of these 989,955 bales, this Blach Belt of 17 
out of 66 counties composing the State, alone produced about 
675,000. Its production of corn was, about, 15,000,000 bushels 
out of a total of 33,226,284 bushels produced in the State, in that 
year. It is a well established fact, that this rich result was 
achieved by a well ordered slave labor, tilling lands of great 
natural fertility and peculiarly adapted to these two crops. 

But a great change was soon to come over this bright aspect 
of affairs. A civil war of four years duration succeeded to these 
prosperous times, desolating and impoverishing the whole South, 
and casting its blighting influences especially over those sections 
where the slaves predominated. The customs and habits of half 
a century suddenly gave place to a new and untried order of 
things, and a skillful, disciplined, slave labor to a demoralized 
and unreliable free. With his fences all down, fields grown up 
in sedge, stock gone, and gloom and distrust filling the land, the 
planter of this section essayed the difficult task of bringing 
order out of chaos, and regaining his former prosperity. It was 
while our planters were struggling under these disadvantages 
that the Federal Census of 1870 was taken, and it is no wonder 
that Alabama fell from her proud eminence as a great and 
opulent State, exceeded in the aggregate of agricultural values 
by only the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Mis- 
sissippi, and was classed among the poorest of the States. Her 
cotton production in that year, amounted to 429,482 bales only, of 
which, this same Black Belt produced, about, 250,000 bales — a 
loss to the State, as compared with 1860, of 560,473, and, to this 
Belt, of 425,000 bales. By the same census, the production of 
corn in the State at large had decreased to 16,977,948 bushels, 
and in the Black Belt to 6,300,000; showing a loss in this respect 
of 16,248,334 to the State, and to this Belt of 8,700,000 bushels. 

A careful study of the statistics of the Census of 1870, shows 
beyond all possibility of contradiction that this great loss was 
due to demoralized labor, and that the greatest falling off in 
agricultural values in the South, was in those districts where the 
SU'Ves largely predominated, and, as a consequence, the greatest 



demoralization in labor existed. To still further corroborate 
the premises that to labor demoralization is attributable the 
great decline in agricultural values in the South, it may be stated 
that the Census of 1870 shows the falling off in the principal slave 
holding States was in a greater ratio than the falling off in the 
South at large. 

Having clearly ascertained the cause of this great decline in 
agriculture in the South, it is easy to apply the remedy — better 
labor. Notwithstanding there is growing up a better under- 
standing between the colored laborer and his white employer, 
and each is adapting himself to the new order of things ; that 
mutual confidence is being gradually engendered, and the colored 
man has come to know that emancipation does not mean total 
immunity from labor, notwithstanding the once opulent planter 
has learned how sweet are the uses of adversity, and been taught 
valuable lessons by bitter experience, notwithstanding all these 
things, the great want of this section remains — better labor, which 
can only be supplied by intelligent white settlers, who know how 
and are not afraid to work. This want may be slowly supplied, 
but in time it will be supplied, and then a new era will dawn upon 
this section. Eevolutions progress slowly, but they progress for 
all that. Disease works rapidly, whilst the work of recuperation 
is tedious, and the burning fever of a single day, may require 
months of convalescence. 

Many crops besides cotton and corn are successfully grown 
on these Black lands, such as wheat, rye, oats, tobacco, potatoes, 
barley, buck-wheat, sugar cane, millet, and many of the grasses ; 
but cotton and corn are the two great staples. The peach, also, 
does well in this section, and fine vegetables are grown here. 
Good pasturage is to be found in very many localities in this 
region, and stock raising and sheep husbandry will be found profit- 
able. Timber is not so abundant as in the other sect'ons of the 
State — still the supply is sufficient for all domestic purposes, for 
fence building, house building, and fire wood. The roads in sum- 
mer are hard and smooth, but in winter, heavy. As a rule, water 
is scarce, ^nd must be caught in cisterns, or obtained from artes- 
ian, or bored wells, penetrating the underlying strata of sand. 
The soil is heavier and more difficult of cultivation than the soils 
of the other sections of the State, but when properly tUled make 
up for it in larger returns. The one great and peculiar feature of 
the staple, cottpn, is, that it is ready money — money in all the 
markets of the world, and as easily convertible at the planter's 
gin-house as in the emporium ; sought after, and not compelled to 



^14 

seek a purchaser. This can hardly be said of a single other 
crop. The health of this region is as good as the health of rich 
lands usually is, and the only diseases incident to it are those 
super-induced by malaria — a cause which wUl rapidly disappear 
with better drainage and more attention to sanitary laws. 

As in the Pine Belt, so in this, there are many thousands of 
acres of land for sale, which can be bought on long time, and 
from $2.50 to $15.00 an acre according to location and state of 
improvemement. The transportation facilities of this section, 
both rail and water, are good. 

3d. The Red and Gray Lands of the Upper Division. 
This is the largest of the agricultural divisions of the State, and 
embraces all the counties north of the BlacJc Belt, having an area 
of, about, 27,500 square miles, and 17,500,000 acres. 

The whites have always largely preponderated in this division, 
hence it has suffered less from demoralized labor than either of 
the other two sections of the State, and has been able to recover 
much more rapidly from the blight of the war. 

The lands of this division, as a rule, have red or gray soils, 
with clay subsoils, and are especially adapted to the cultivation 
of the cereals, such as corn, wheat, and oats, although cotton is 
quite successfully grown on them. Here, many of the grasses 
reach perfection, especially in the more northern portions of the 
division, affording an abundance of excellent pasturage and hay. 
Some of the orchard products, also, do well in this division — 
notably the apple, the county of Blount being said to be the best 
apple growing county on this continent. It is, also, well adapted 
to the growing of garden vegetables. In the upper part of this 
division, is the famous valley of the Tennessee Eiver, with its 
almost unrivalled lands and climate. This fertile and delightful 
valley offers great inducements to white settlers, and is being 
rapidly peopled with thrifty new comers. Here, there is a most 
genial climate, health unsurpassed, a never ceasing supply of 
pure, wholesome water, gushing out in great springs, good turn 
pikes, average rail and water transportation facilities, good 
society — in fact, everything to make life desirable, and home 
attractive. 

Of course, in the coal measures, which occupy a very consid- 
erable portion of this division, the lands, as a rule, are poor and 
not of much agricultural value, but they possess untold mineral 
wealth, and, in the valleys and along the strea,ms of even this 
region, are capable of producing fine crops. 

The Coosa valley in the eastern portion of the State, is also 



very fertile and desirable as a home, with one great drawback- 
want of good transportation facilities, but this will be removed 
with the opening of the Coosa Eiver to navigation from Mobile. 



In conclusion, it may be said, that of the lands of the State, 
nearly one-fifth, or 6,500,000 acres are Government lands, and sub- 
ject to entry under the l^ational Homestead and Pre-emption 
laws, at nominal figures ; while of the 14,961,1 78 acres in the 
State, embraced in farms, only 5,062,204 are in cultivation, the 
balance being uncultivated, or primitive wood-land. Besides this 
available land lying out, to use a common expression, there are 
many large and small farms, under good cultivation, in all portions 
of the State, which may be rented for one, two, three, four, and five 
years, or even longer, at prices ranging from one to three dollars an 
acre, according to locality and improvement : or purchased on long 
time, and from $2.50 to $15.00 an acre. While almost every crop, 
known and cultivated, can be grown in this State, its great staples 
have been cotton, corn, wheat and oats. Since the war, in many 
portions of the State, rice, sugar cane, tobacco, millet, chufas, and 
the grasses have entered largely into the farming economy, 
yielding fine returns. 

The rainfall of Alabama averages about 45 inches annually, 
and is so evenly distributed throughout the year and over the 
whole State, that irrigation is not required at all, and our farmers 
are saved this great and expensive burden which rests upon the 
farmers in the Northwest. Here, we have not the periodical visi- 
tations of the grasshopper as they do in the Northwest, coming 
as the plague in Egypt to eat up the substance of the land. Nor 
have we their vast prairies and treeless plains, with their accom- 
panying northers — rude blasts from the frigid zone, both in and 
out of season. 

It may be confidently asserted, that in no section of the 
Union, is intelligent agriculture more certain of reward than in 
Alabama, and while we may not have the richest soils, ours are 
safe and reasonably sure of an honest return. 



Part Fourteenth. 



The Coal and Coal Mines, Iron and Iron WorTis of Alabama. 



THE COAL OF ALABAMA. 

Prof. Smith, State Geologist, in his Outline of the Geology of 
Alabama, Part Ninth, has so fully described, and given the 
boundaries of, the three great Coal fields of the State — the 
Warrior, the Coosa, and the Cahaba, with analyses of the coal in 
each, it is only necessary for the writer, in this place, to supple- 
ment that article with such statistics of our coal industry as he 
has been able to gather. 

Alabama is essentially rich in those twin powers — Coal and 
Iron, which have contributed so powerfully to the civilization 
and material advancement of the world. Her measures of bitu- 
minous coal are a source of great, if undeveloped wealth, and 
incite surprise whenever examined into, both by reason of their 
extent and the quality of the coal they contain. Of these meas- 
ures, no complete surface survey has, as yet, been made, nor 
have we any estimates, based upon thorough scientific investiga- 
tion, of the coal beneath the surface ; as a consequence, their 
exact superficial extent is not known, nor the number of tons 
beneath. A knowledge of the State's immense hidden wealth in 
this respect, began to dawn upon her people about half a century 
ago; and the earliest mention of coal among the State archives 
occurs about that time, in the first Field Notes of the Bibb and 
Shelby county surveyors, who speak of having encountered a 
blaclc substance which resembled coal. In Silliman's Journal, vol. 
XXVI, appears the earliest printed notice of the use of Alabama 
Coal — a communication from Dr. Alexander Jones, of Mobile, 
written in 1834, in which the writer speaks of using this coal in 
his " little laboratory," and finding it " in every respect equal, if not 
superior, to the best English coal," and says: "it is brought down 
to Mobile from Tuscaloosa in flat bottomed boats, and sold at the 
same price as the Liverpool coal, or at from $1.00 to $1.50 per 
barrel." A few years later, Prof. Tuomey, the eminent Geologist, 
witnessed the novel and primitive method of diving for coal, thus 



«iescribed: A flat boat is moored parallel with the joints and 
near the edge of the coal ; long, wedge-shaped, crow bars are 
driven into the seams by means of mauls handled by men in the 
boat: when a ledge of about two feet is loosened in this way, 
across the seam, the men take the water, and dive two or three 
together, according to the size of the masses to be brought up, 
and lift the coal bodily to the surface and place it in the boat : as 
an improvement on this simple process, a crane is rigged on the 
boat, and a chain, slipped around the blocks of coal, raises them 
into the boat. 

The first attempt at coal mining in Alabama, according to this 
same eminent authority, was on a seam 22 inches thick in the 
vicinity of the State University at Tuscaloosa, 

The Professor, in his first Geological Eeport, says on this 
subject: 

During the months of August, September and October, 1849, there 
were about two hundred persons engaged in the coal trade of this State; 
and as only three beds are worked under ground, the rest of the coal 
raised is taken from the bed of the Warrior river and streams, where of 
course operations can be continued during the low stages of the water. 
The boats used are common flat boats with gunwales made of solid tim- 
ber ; the first class have a capacity of about 2,000 bushels, draw 20 to 30 
inches of water, and cost $70 or thereabouts. Coal is brought down the 
river to Tuscaloosa at about five cents a bushel, a distance of fifty miles, 
and thence to Mobile, a distance of 355 miles, at an additional cost of 
nearly five cents ; the boat being a dead loss in either case, as it brings 
but a few dollars. 

This industry progressed slowly before and during the war, 
and it was not until the completion of the Selma, Eome, and Dal- 
ton, the South and liforth Alabama, and the Alabama and 
Chattanooga (now Alabama Great Southern) Eailroads, all traver- 
sing, more or less, the mineral region, that it assumed anything 
like its present proportions. Even now it is in its infancy, and 
there is still a great drawback to its full development — want of 
direct and cheap communication with the Gulf: when this want is 
supplied, the output of coal will be millions instead of thousands 
of tons. It is estimated that the three coal fields of the State, 
mentioned above, and which derive their names, respectively, 
from the three rivers which drain them, comprise in the aggre- 
gate about 5,500 square miles, or more than one-tenth of the total 
area of the State — of which the Warrior field contains about 
5,000, and the Coosa, and Cahaba fields, together, about 500. 
Besides these principal measures, there are other smaller beds in 
the State, about which little or nothing is known. 

The productive capacity of these three fields, from the seams 



distinctly traceable at the surface, is estimated at 52,250,000,000 
(fifty-two billions, two hundred and fifty millions) tons, and that if 
we should attain a mining capacity equal to the State of Pennsyl- 
vania at the present time, it would take '2,000 (two thousand) 
years to exhaust the supply : and surface indications are as nothing 
compared to what we may, in the light of experience, expect, 
when deep horing has been tried here, as elsewhere. 

To show how rapidly, when once well started, the develop- 
ment of these great measures will be, it is only necessary to look 
at the State of Pennsylvania : in that State in 1820, the output of 
coal amounted to, only, 365 tons, while in 1875, it had increased 
to 19,611,334 tons. Here in Alabama, with improved railroad 
connections with tide water, and which will be in a great measure 
supplied by the completion of the Mobile and Alabama Grand 
Trunk Eailroad, an almost an air line of easy grades and light 
curves between Mobile, on the Gailf, and the city of Birmingham 
in the heart of the mineral region, there is no reason why in the 
same length of time, the output should not assume similar gigan- 
tic proportions. 

The construction of this railroad will insure cheap freights, 
and cheao freights, cheap coal, which will greatly stimulate its 
consumption, and we shall soon find all our railroads and steam- 
boats discarding wood for coal, which will, of itself, create a very 
considerable increase in the demand; add to this a greatly 
increased demand for household and gas purposes, for the manu- 
facture of iron, for the steam marine of the Gulf, and for export, 
and it will be seen that ready markets will be found for the addi- 
tional output, and there will be no danger of the supply ever 
exceeding the requirements of this section. As it is, even with 
our present limited transportation facilities, the production of 
coal in Alabama has rapidly increased since 1874, as the following 
carefully compiled and official figures will show. 

PRODUCTION or COAIi IN ALABAMA. 

1874. 1875. 1876. 1877. 

Tons. Tons. Tons, Tons. 

South and North Alabama Railroad 33,130 67,516 76,140 139,182 

Selma, Rome, and Daiton Railroad 14,750 14,890 20,500 22,500 

Alabama and Great Southern Railroad.. 2,000 2,500 6,000 9,000 

Scattering , 1,000 1,000 1,500 

Total 49,880 75.906 102,640 172,182 

If the improvement continues in the same ratio, and there is 
no reason to doubt it will, the output during the present year 
(1878) will be considerably over 200,000 tons. If this amount of 



a^9 

feoal, costing the consumer, at present, on an average, five dollars 
a ton, can be consumed within the circumscribed area to wliich it 
is limited by the cost of transportation, what will be the vast 
amount needed when there is cheaper coal and more direct com- 
munication with the Gulf. 

THE COAL MINES OF ALABAMA.* 
SOUTH AND NOflTH ALABAMA BAIIiKOAD. 

Beginning with the most northern mines along the line of this 
railroad, we have first : 

Pierce's Mines.— Postoffice, Warrior Station, Jefferson county, 24 
miles north of Birmingham; Jas. T. Pierce, Superintendent.t 

Alabama Mining and Manufacturing Company.— PoatoflSce, 
Warrior Station, Jefferson county ; Frank Hoene, Superintendent. 

Jefferson Mines.— Postoflace, Jefferson Mines, Jefferson county ; 
operated by Jefferson Coal Company, T. H. Aldrich, President, Marshall 
Morris, Superintendent; incorporated June 3d, 1876, under general incor- 
poration law of Alabama ; operations commenced June 3d, 1876 ; capital 
stock $25,000, in shares of $100 each and owned in Alabama ; vertical 
shaft 8x14 feet, and 250 feet deep, cutting five seams of coal which lie 
nearly horizontal, only two of which are workable ; coal is hoisted to 
the chutes by means of a horizontal engine, working two elevator cages 
running in groves made of oak wood ; air shaft and ladder way in addit- 
ion to the main shaft ; chutes, shaft, engine and boiler rooms all 
under one roof; coal worked in rooms about 30 feet wide, between gang- 
ways 400 feet apart and running parallel ; in a part of the mine, the 
Longwall system has been adopted; white and black miners, equally 
divided; present daily output 100 tons; total capacity, 175 tons a day ; 
seams mined. Black Creek, 220 feet down, Jefferson, 187 feet down; 
coal bituminous, and good for all purposes, but especially for steam and 
gas ; marketed in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi ; prices 
at the mines range from 50 cents to $2.50 a ton, according to grade of 
coal and extent of order ; analysis of Black Creek coal given on page 
174; output for first year, ending June 1st, 1878, 12,000 tons. 

Newcastle Mines. — PostoflQce, Newcastle, Jefferson county ; opera- 
ted by the Newcastle Coal and Iron Company, H. M. Caldwell, Presi- 
dent, J. T. Milner, Superintendent ; operations commenced January, 
1873 ; incorporated in 1874, under the general incorporation law ; capital 
stock, $40,000, four-fifths owned in Alabama, balance in Tennessee; slope 
not worked on Newcastle seam ; drifts, water level, on the Black Creek 
seam, whence all the company's coal is taken at present ; annual output 

*In the eiiumeration below, only the most prominent mines of the State are given, 
and even this list may be incomplete. Every effort has been used to make the list as 
perfect as possible, but indifference on the part of some operators has prevented. 
However, It will be found very nearly complete, and certainly reliable. 

tNo information could be obtained of the worMng of this and tjie next succeeding 
mine, but the reader la referred to pages 175-176, for notices of them, by Professor 
Smith. 



^5,000 tons; coal much used for gas and steam, and good also for grates; 
labor, 90 convicts, and 40 white miners. 

Sharpe's Mines i formerly Coalhurg Mining Company^ now operated 
by Thos. Sharpe ; at Coalburg, seven and a half miles north of Birming- 
ham ; Post-office, Black Creek, Jefferson County; operations commenced 
January, 1878 ; property valued at $25,000, owned ii> Jefferson County; 
outsid*^ improvements claimed to be the best in the Warrior field ; slope 
350 feet deep, worked on the pillar and stall system, and coal hauled up 
with a pair of engines of fifty horse power; miners, white and black, no 
convicts ; just getting under way; present daily output, about 30 
tons; total daily capacity 200 tons; seam mined, Black Creek; coal 
marketed in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida. 

Pratt Company Mines: Pratt Coal and Coke Company, H. F. 
DeBardeleben, Pres't, T. H. Aldrich, Sup't; Mines, six miles west of 
Birmingham ; Post-office, Birmingham ; Company organized July 18, 
1878, under general incorporation law, with a capital of $60,000 paid in ; 
estimated probable cost of works $100,000, including the construction of 
a railroad from Birmingham to Mines, on which work has been begun ; 
there will be three separate openings upon two seams ; seams from four 
and a half to six feet in thickness ; main seam especially adapted to Coke 
making, and the Company has already contracted for the building of 
fifty coke ovens ; coal from other seams excellent for grate and shipping 
purposes ; Company will be in operation by January 1st, 1879, and expect 
to ship 250 tons a day; total capacity will be about 1,000 tons a day. 

Helena Mines: Helena, Shelby County, 80 miles north of Mont- 
gomery, and 17 south of Birmingham ; Post-ofQce, Helena ; operated by 
the Eureka Company, J. W. Sloss, Pres't, James Thomas, Sup't ; stock 
principally owned in Cincinnati and Louisville ; Mines, three in number 
— Slopes 1, 2, and 3 ; Slope No. 1, or Wadsworth Mine, is down 400 feet at 
an angle of about 30°, and sunk on a 3 foot seam ; run to full capacity, 
100 tons a day, throughout entire year; labor, convict; coal too soft and 
friable to stand transportation for any distance, but unsurpassed for Coke 
making ; total output of this mine is coked in the Company's coke ovens, 
connected with the mine, for use at the Company's Blast Furnaces, at 
Oxmoor; Coke ovens, of the Bee Hive pattern, 100 in number, and occupy 
a space of more than 1,400 feet in length ; capacity of each oven 4 tons; 
yield of Coke 60 per cent ; coking process requires about 36 hours, and 
the ovens turn out about 100 tons a day, all of which is consumed at the 
Company's furnaces: Slope No. 2, was commenced February, 1877, and 
in December, of same year, its coal was on the market ; angle of dip 31°, 
^-depth of slope 450 feet, sunk on Black Shale Seam, three and a half feet 
in thickness ; the Eureka Coal from this mine, has a fine reputation for 
household uses, is very hard, stands transportation well, pure, burns 
freely, and makes but little ash and ^irt ; marketed in the cities of 
Atlanta, Augusta, Macon and Columbus, Georgia, and Mobile and Mont- 
gomery, Alabama, and shipped as far north as Franklin, Teun., within 
18 miles of Nashville; the trestling, chutes, etc., of this mine required 
1,000,000 feet of lumber ; the entire output of this mine, 300 tons a day, 
goes on the market ; the Slack is passed through a washiug machine, 
which separates the fine coal from all impurities, and then coked in the 



26l 

Company's Coke ovens, for use at their Oxmoor Furnaces ; Washer run 
by 20 horse power engine, and fed with slack coal by bottom dump cars; 
water supplied by two powerful steam pumps, furnishing from 400 to 500 
gallons a minute ; daily capacity of Washer 150 tons, all of which goes to 
the Company's Coke ovens ; labor employed in this mine and about the 
Coke ovens, white and black, many of themiuers being from Wales, Penn- 
sylvania, Illinois, and Tennessee: the coal is hoisted from both these 
mines by means of wire rope and drum, driven by a pair of powerful 
engines ; mines are ventilated by steam ; little troubled with fire damp, 
as the air in the mines is carefully watched and gases not allowed to 
accumulate; the Company's daily output of coal averages 400 tons, and 
sometimes reaches 500; their own daily consumption of coal averages 220 
tons ; these are the most extensive mines in the State : Slope No. 3 is now 
idle, and need not be described. 

SELMA, ROME, AND DALTON RAILROAD. 

Montevallo Coal Mines: Post-offlce, Montevallo, Shelby County; 
Mines three miles west of Railroad, with branch road to Mines from 
Montevallo ; operated by T. H. Aldrich & Co.— T. H. Aldrich, C. Cadle, 
Jr., W. F. Aldrich, Jr. ; operations under present management com- 
menced in 1873; entry to mines on ivater-level extending 1,500 feet from 
the mouth of mines, at which distance a slope at right angle to the 
entry, following the dip of the coal at angle of about 8 degrees, extends 
1,000 feet, with three lifts, the first of which is worked out; at the head 
of slope an engine of 40 horse power hauls the coal up the slope, and from 
engine it is hauled to the chutes by mules; a perpendicular shaft for 
ventilation extends from engine room to surface, a distance of 130 feet ; 
coal blasted out with powder; seam averages two and a half feet in 
thickness; coal a hard bituminous, free burning, non-coking, red ash 
coal, leaving no clinker or slag in grates or stoves, and fine for household 
purposes, for which it is almost exclusively used ; present daily output 
120 tons ; total daily capacity 175 tons ; miners and laborers employed 
125, one-fourth white, three-fourths colored; output in 1873, 6,000 tons ; 
in 1874, 12,000 tons ; in 1875, 14,000 tons ; in 1876, 19,000 tons ; in 1877, 
22,000 tons.* 

ALABAMA GREAT SOUTHERN RAIIiROAD.f 

Johnson's Mine. — N. D. Johnson, miner; 14 miles east of Tusca- 
loosa, and one and a half from Clement's Station ; PostoflSce, Clement's 
Station, Tuscaloosa county ; coal shipped from Coaling Station ; average 
annual output for past three years, 10,000 tons ; present daily output 60 
tons ; total daily capacity 100 tons ; seam mined from 30 to 36 inches in 
thickness, and coal superior for household uses, and steam ; mine fitted 
up with ample steam power for hoisting and pumping, and a branch 

* The Montevallo are the only coal mines now operated on tlie line of tlae Sebna^ 
Rome, and Dalton Rali-oad. 

tOwing to the legal difficulties which have surrounded this Railroad, coal mining 
along its line is in an embi-yo state ; hut now that the road has passed into good hands, 
and been relieved of all embarrassment, the develojHaaent of the mineral resources of 
the section through which it passes, will be greatly stimulated. 



262 

railroad is now being constructed to connect the same with the Alabama 
Great Southern Railroad at Coaling Station. 

Tuscaloosa Mines,— Spencer & Company—E. J. Spencer, President, 
M. J. Spencer, Superintendent ; mines near Tuscaloosa ; PostoflSce, Tus- 
caloosa ; capital $20,000, owned in Tuscaloosa ; operations commenced 
January, 1875 ; mines worked on Post and Pillar plan ; shaft 100 feet 
down ; seams mined, two— 2 feet and 20 inches in thickness ; coal, a hard 
block coal, well adapted for steam purposes ; average daily output 30 
tons; total daily capacity 80 tons; average annual output 7,000 tons j 
labor, black and white ; coal marketed in West Alabama, and Missis- 
sippi ; prices at mines range from $2.25 to $3.00 a ton ; the steam which 
heats the Alabama Insane Hospital is made of the coal from one of these 
seams ; this company is now loading boats with their coal, for transpor- 
tation to Mobile, via the Warrior river, and the first consignment of 
1,000 tons will soon go down ; for further information about these mines, 
see pages 179-180.* 

CAHABA BIVBB MINES. 

These mines are located as follows : 

In Sections 1 and 10, T 24, R. 10, E. Lower Survey. 

In Sections 12 and 13, T. 22, R. 5, W. Upper Survey. 

In Section 29, T. 21, R. 4, W. Upper Survey. 

For further information concerning them, see pages 164-165. 

THE IRON OF ALABAMA. 

Prof. Smith, State Geologist, in his carefully prepared Outline 
of the Geology of Alabama, Part Nine, of this Hand-Book, has 
frequently spoken of the iron ore deposits of the State, and it will 
be unnecessary here to do more than present statistics as far as 
possible, as was done in the case of the Coal of Alabama. 

In the extent and quality of these deposits, Alabama is unques- 
tionably one of the richest States of the Union ; and the know- 
ledge of these great ore banks is rapidly disseminating itself 
throughout the commercial world, and attracting the attention of 
intelligent observers and practical miners from other States 
and Europe, many of whom have visited and personally inspected 
them. Said Hon. John Francis Maguire, M. P., for Cork, and 
editor of the Cork Examiner, at a public dinner at Montgomery, 
in 1867: 

England possesses two important elements of manufacturing success 
—Coal and Iron. Alabama possesses the same, and perhaps in greater 
abundance. What do you behold in Alabama? Why a ridge of iron 
ore extending over a hundred miles through the centre of the State, and 
coal beds as vast and inexhaustible as those of Pennsylvania. 

*There are numerous other places on this Railroad, where coal is mined in a small 
way. 



On the same subject, Mr. Eobert Somers, of England, who 
visited Alabama in 1870, wrote : 

They everywhere protrude themselves on the most cursory observa- 
tion, over thousands of square miles, and coal and iron are found in such 
immediate juxtaposition, and are raised from the bowels of the earth 
into such elevations of surface as must render their commercial develop- 
ment much more easy than coal and iron can be developed in most other 
parts of the world. All this subterraneous wealth exposed to the eye, is 
now brought within easy reach. 

I take with me specimens of hematites from the Red Mountain 
district, and of Manganese from the neighborhood of Chattanooga. The 
hematite yields 56 per cent, of metallic iron, and having seen the finest 
hematites of Cumberland and the North of Spain, I am mistaken if the 
Alabama ore does not compare favorably with them all. 

Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, of New York, in an address before 
the Polytechnic Association of the American Institute, several 
years ago, said: 

The region in Alabama to which our attention has been called 
to-night, is, unquestionably, the most interesting region in the United 
States, with reference to the interests of iron manufacture in this 
country. It is, in fact, the only place on the American continent where 
it is possible to make iron in competition with the cheap iron of 
England. 

The cheapest place until now, on the globe, for manufacturing iron, 
is the Cleveland region, in Yorkshire, England. The distance of the 
coal and the ore from the furnaces averages there about twenty miles. 
Now, in Alabama, the coal and the ore in many places, are within a 
half mile of each other. The sandstone formation thins out towards the 
South, and in Tennessee and Alabama appears to be replaced by this 
fossiliferous iron ore, which commences in New York with a thickness 
rarely exceeding two feet, but steadily thickens towards the South, 
averaging four feet in Pennsylvania, seven or eight feet in Tennessee, 
while in Alabama, probably because the formation was crushed back 
upon itself in some way, there are some places where the iron has been 
measured one hundred and fifty feet in thickness. 
**** * **** 

Throwing aside, then, all questions of tariff for protection, here 
is a possibility upon the American continent of producing iron at as low 
a cost in labor as in the most favored regions of the world. 

# * * * *,* * * * 

This region, so exhaustless in supplies, so admirably furnished with 
coal, so conveniently communicating with the Gulf, will be of infinitely 
more consequence to us for its iron than it ever has been for its cotton. 

I think this will be a region of coke-made iron on a scale grander 
than has ever been witnessed on the habitable globe. 



264. 

The American Manufacturing and Iron World, in one of its 
late numbers, thus spoke of the iron wealth of Alabama : 

No State possesses such extensive beds of iron ore as Alabama, so 
easily worked, of such excellent quality, or so accessible to market. 

In Alabama, says this reliable and well informed Journal: 

The necessary elements in the economical manufacture of iron — coal 
and the rich ores, together with the limestone — can be as cheaply brought 
together as in any other region of the United States. 

Hundreds of similar encomiums upon the iron wealth of Ala- 
bama lie before the writer, which might be quoted had he space, 
but those given are sufficient to show the opinion entertained on 
this subject, by disinterested parties residing outside the State. 

The main deposits of Brown Hem^itite ore in Alabama, lie 
along the line of the Selma, Rome, and Dalton Railroad, from 
Briarfield northward to the State line ; and south of Birmingham. 
The great bed of Fossiliferous ore lies along the Alabama Great 
Southern Railroad, from Birmingham northeast to the State line. 
There are, also, large quantities of both Hematite and Fossilifer- 
ous ores along the Coosa River from Greensport north to the 
State line. 

What is known as the Bed Mountain deposit, while being the 
largest in the State, is really one of the mineral wonders of the 
American continent. The Iron Mountain in Missouri alone can 
be considered its compeer. This vast bed of Fossiliferous ore 
runs from a point a few miles east of Tuscaloosa to the northi 
eastern Umit of the State. It is said to be one hundred miles in 
length by from half-mile to a mile wide. The stratum is about 
thirty feet in thickness at the point intersected by the South and 
North Alabama RaUroad. Some idea of the vast extent of the 
deposit may be obtained from the fact that a fair estimate shows 
that there are fifteen million tons of ore to each mile along the 
mountain lying above the drainage level. 

What constitutes a most interesting and important feature in 
relation to this remarkable deposit of ore is, its proximity to 
other materials necessary for its reduction. Both the coal and 
limestone lie parallel to it, and separated by a few miles, 
throughout its entire length. It would be impossible to associate 
the materials in more perfect manner than nature has done. 

The Brown Hematites, although not found in any deposits 
equal to the Red Hematite in the Bed Mountain range, occur in 
large and apparently inexhaustible quantities in the counties of 
Bibb, Shelby, Talladega, Clay, Calhoun, and Cherokee, and within 
easy reach of the Selma, Rome, and Dalton Railroad. 

Mr. E. G. Barney, late prominent in railroad circles in Ala- 



265 

bama, after a careful survey made in 1862, estimates the amount 
of Eed Hematite ore in Bed Mountain, from its lower terminus to 
the Georgia gap, at five hundred billions tons ; and the Brown 
Hematite in the Oahaba hills and valleys, at two hundred billions 
tons. 

Notwithstanding the great reduction in the price of iron, and 
the difficulties which have surrounded this industry for several 
years past, Alabama has largely increased her production of Pig 
Iron, as the following table from the Keport of the American Iron 
and Steel Association for 1878, will show : 



32 -ts 

0) ti 


Condition of Fur- 
naces on Dec. 3l8t. 




Make of Pig Iron in net tons. 


3 a: 


1876 


1877 




1877 


In 
5 


Out 


In 


Out 
6 


1872 
12,512 


1873 

22,283 


1874 


1875 


1876 1877 


13 


8 


7 


32,863 


25,108 


24,732 41.241 



Of the 13 furnaces in the State, there are now (September, 
1878) in blast, 7, out of blast, 6; a better exhibit in this regard 
than is made by any other State in the Union, except New York 
where there are 24 in and 35 out, Pennsylvania where there are 
131 in and 147 out, and Ohio where there are 49 in and 58 out. 



THE IRON WORKS OF ALABAMA. 



SELMA, ROME, AND DALTON BAI1.B0AD. 

Stonewall Iron Company. — Three miles from Georgia State line; 
Postoflflce, Stonewall, Cherokee county; J. M. Selkirk, President, Wm. 
Wurts, Superintendent ; one stack 40 feet high, 11 feet across the bosh, 
open top; daily yield, 18 tons ; product, pig iron; hot blast; engine 100 
horse power, horizontal ; steam cylinder 22 inches in diameter, 6 feet 
stroke; blast cylinders, 3 in number, 36 inches in diameter, 6 feet stroke; 
fuel, charcoal; ore, brown hematite; ore beds, near furnace. Out of 
blast. 

Tecumseh Iron Company. — Postoflflce, Teeumseh, Cherokee county; 
Willard Warner, President and Manager; commenced building March, 
1873, and blew-in February, 1874 ; capital 8tock,"$100,000, paid in ; fur- 
nace 60 feet high, 12 feet bosh, fire-brick hearth, with water jackets, 
iron shell around stack ; steam hoist, upright blowing engine, 36 inches 
in diameter, 48 inch stroke; blowing cylinder 48x84 inches; 4 boilers 40 
inches by 50 feet; pi'oduct, hot blast pig iron, mostly foundry; daily 
yield. 18 tons; total capacity, 25 tons; fuel, charcoal; ore. brown hema- 
tite; ore beds, from 300 yards to one mile from furnace; limestone with- 
in quarter mile of furnace ; furnace in blast, and has been blowing 4 
years and 7 months to September 18, 1878, on two fire-brick hearths, and 
on the present hearth, 3 years and 3 months of that time, and hearth 



266 

still good and working admirably ; furnace made from February 18, 1874, 
to September 15, 1878, 20,417 net tons pig iron, and been out of blast once 
for two and a half months — from April 3. 1875, to June 18, 1875, and has 
now been in blast, coatinuously, for 3 years and 3 months, on a fire-brick 
hearth, and made on this hearth during that time, 15,747 net tons pig 
iron. 

Bock Run Furnace. — Rock Run Iron Company ; PostoflBce, Pleas- 
ant Gap, Cherokee county ; one stack 38 by 9 ; built in 1873-4 ; went in 
blast June 1, 1874; hot blast; annual capacity 4,000 tons. Out of blast. 

Alabama Iron Company. — Postofflce, Alabama Furnace, Cherokee 
county; S. S. Glidden, President and Superintendent; went in blast, 
January, 1873; capital stock, $100,000, paid in; furnace, 41 feet high, 9 
feet bosh; 3 blowing cylinders, 40 inches diameter, 6 feet stroke; hot 
blast; product, pig iron ; average daily yield, 20 tons ; total daily capac- 
ity, 28 tons ; fuel, charcoal ; ore, brown hematite ; ore beds, near furnace; 
furnace built in 1873, started October 1, 1873, first blast averaged 
21 93-100 tons daily, and used 112J bushels charcoal to ton of iron. In 
blast. 

Woodstock Furnace.— Postoffice, Anniston, Calhoun county; 
A. L. Tyler, President ; furnace went in blast April 13, 1873 ; one 
stack 43 feet high, 12 feet bosh ; closed top ; capacity, 500 tons per month; 
all pig metal for car wheel and foundry purposes ; blast, hot and cold; 
can change on cold blast in a few minutes; blowing cylinder 72 inches 
in diameter, 4 feet stroke; engine cylinder, 30 inches, and 4 feet stroke; 
gas used for heating the boilers; <fuel, charcoal; ore, brown hematite; 
ore within quarter mile of the furnace, unlimited in extent ; limestone, 
4 milfs distant ; contains 99.24 Carbonate of lime. In blast. 

Shelby Iron Company.— Postoflfice, Shelby Iron Works. Shelby 
county ; Walter Crafts, Superintendent ; company been active for thirty 
years ; two furnaces: No. 1 12 by 56 feet : No. 2, 14 by 60 feet: average 
yield per day of No. 1 is, first blast, 13 tons, second blast, 18 tons, third 
blast, 14 tons— in tons of 2,268 pounds; the first two blasts were on hot 
blast pig iron, and the last on car wheel pig iron; furnace No. 1 blew 
out, December 15, 1874, having made a run of three years, nine months 
and fifteen days: furnace No. 2, went in blast January 6, 1875, and has 
made an average thus far (February 2, 1875,) of 13 tons per day: size of 
engine No. 1 — blowing cylinder, 66 inches, and 4J feet stroke ; size of 
engine No. 2— blowing cylinder 84 inches, and 4 feet stroke ; waste gases 
are taken from the tunnel head and used for heating the boilers; ore, 
brown hematite, and ore banks near the furnace ; limestone opening 3 
miles from the furnace, at the terminus of a narrow gauge railroad ; fuel, 
charcoal. In blast — one furnace. 

Briarfield Iron Works.— Postofflce, Briarfield, Bibb county; 2 
stacks, 40x8 ; built in 1862 and 1864 ; cold blast ; fuel, charcoal. Idle. 

COOSA BIVEB. 

Cornwall Iron Works.— Cornwall Iron Company; Postofflce, 
Cedar Bluff, Cherokee county; 1 stack 44x9; built in 1862; cold blast; 
water power ; fuel, charcoal. Out of blast. 



267 

Bound Mountain Furnace.— Round Mountain Coal and Iron Com- 
pany; PostoflSce, Round Mountain Furnace, Cherokee county: 1 stack, 
46x10. Long out of blast. 

SOUTH AND NORTH ALABAMA RAILROAD. 

Eureka Iron Company.— PostoflSce, Oxmoor, Jefferson county; 
J. W. 8I0SS, President, James Thiomas, Superintendent ;» 2 furnaces, 60 
feet higli. No. 1, 16 feet in bosh, and blown by engine with steam cylin- 
ders 60 inches in diameter, and 5 feet stroke ; blowing cylinder 108 inches 
in diameter, and 5 feet stroke; daily capacity of furnace 45 to 50 tons of 
pig iron. No. 2 furnace, 14 feet in bosh, and blown by engine with steam 
cylinder 36 inches in diameter, and 4 feet stroke ; blowing cylinder, 84 
inches in diameter, 4 feet stroke; daily capacity of furnace, 25 to 35 tons 
pig iron. Fuel for both furnaces, coke. Ore, fossiliferous, and brought 
from Red Mountain, 2 miles off, and reached by narrow gauge railroad, 
owned by company. Iron ranks with any coke made iron, and cost of 
production about $11 a ton. Limestone comes from Red Mountain, 
below ore; 28 Belgian coke ovens at furnaces, 24 feet long. In blast. 

Central Iron Works. — PostoflQce, Helena, Shelby county ; R. W. 
Cobb, President, R. Fell, Superintendent; 4 puddling furnaces, and 1 
heating furnace; 3 engines, of which one of 120 horse power drives the 
mill; 1 muck mill; 1 guide and hook mill complete ; shears, squeezer, 
and punches necessary for the operation of the mill; manufacture of the 
Alabama Loop Cotton Tie made a specialty ; capacity about 1,000 tons 
per year. In active operation. 

ALABAMA GREAT SOUTHERN RAILROAD. 

Cahaba Iron Works.— PostoflSce, Irondale, Jefferson county; 1 
stack, 46xlOJ feet ; hot blast ; daily capacity, 15 tons. Out of blast. 

Edwards' Furnace. — Giles Edwards, Superintendent; Postoffiee, 
Woodstock, Bibb county ; 1 stack building." 



Part Fifteenth. 



Cotton Manufacturing in Alabama.* 



BY 

H. A. HARALSON, MATHEWS COTTON MILLS, SELMA, ALA. 



The manufacture of cotton in the South is fast attracting the 
attention which its importance demands, and to which it has long 
been entitled. Many things have conspired to this end. Before 
the war, little thought was paid to the subject. We were almost 
exclusively given up to agriculture. The energies of the people 
were directed to the raising of cotton, and not to its manufacture. 
Surrounded, as we were, with plenty and hardly caring *for more 
than what a bounteous Creator had conferred in rich fields and 
abundant harvests, our wits slept, while the world was making 
progress, and reaping more than half of the results of our labor. 
But a revolution came; a war desolated our homes and swept 
away the wealth we held in such fancied security, and threw us 
back upon resources till then undeveloped and immature. Some- 
thing must be done. To lie supinely and make no effort to 
rebuild the fortunes of former years, was unworthy the men who 
had risked and suffered so much. A hard struggle ensued. For 
years a hand to hand contest was waged, more trying perhaps 
than the war through which we came. The constant and ever 
increasing depreciation of values, the bitter fight for the necessi- 
ties of life, quickened and sharpened the wits of our people, so 
that economy, long scorned, at last found a home amongst us. 
We were compelled then to cast about for some new and untried 
scheme for climbing up again. There was no lack of material. 
The country blessed above all others, was the same, and it 
but required patient and thoughtful judgment to find out the true 
road to prosperity. , This has been exercised, and is pointing 
with unerring finger to the Manufacture of Cotton in the South. 
We begin now to see an interest felt in the subject everywhere; 

* Written expressly for this Hand Book, 



Q.6g 

men think of it; men talk of it; and it will not be long before it 
will be considered worthy to take its place alongside of the 
grandest of all callings, agriculture, whose right arm it is in the 
South. These men will act. We will then see our country — our 
State — once more take rank in point of wealth with what are con- 
sidered the most favored portions of the land. 

The manufacture of cotton has been placed beyond the pale 
of experiment. " It is no experiment," as was lately said by a 
promiuent manufacturer from the East, who had worked with dil- 
igent hand and active brain amongst the cotton mills of the North 
for thirty years. "It is a success. It has been tried, proven, 
found worthy, and there is certain fortune to all who, with honest 
hearts and energetic hands, will engage in it." 

Some urge that mills will always fail in the South, because in 
the whode history of cotton mills in our State, two have suc- 
cumbed and gone into bankruptcy. They do not know, or care to 
know perhaps, that it was no fault of the mills which brought 
disaster, but inadequate financial ability on the part of those in 
charge. It is yet to be shown where any mill in the South, prop' 
erly managed, does not make money and that rapidly. 

Take for instance the Augusta Cotton Mill. A short time 
before the war it passed into the hands of thirteen gentlemen, 
with a debt of $140,000, one-tenth to be paid annually, with inter- 
est upon the whole amount remaining unpaid. So successful 
was this mill that in four years it paid up the whole debt out of 
the earnings. Its capital stock then became $200,000, $60,000 
having been paid in cash at first. During the war it made 
$425,000 on a gold basis. The stock was then increased to 
$600,000. For eight and three-quarter years thereafter it paid 
regularly a 5 per cent, quarterly dividend on this capital, and 
increased the value of the property $425,000, when its stock was 
worth $200 for each "share of $100. It is estimated therefore to 
be worth $1,200,000 ; has paid 200 per cent, dividends annually 
on the amount in cash originally subscribed. It has 570 looms, 
with 16,056 spindles, making over 30,000 yards of cloth per day, 
and only cost the proprietors $60,000 in cash. 

The Grahetville and Langley Mills, near Aug-usta, have almost 
as good a record, and are paying handsome dividends even in 
these hard times. "The Granetville Mill," says a pamphlet 
published in 1873, under the direction and authority of the Com- 
pany, " came out of the war with its machinery, 9,120 spindles, 
and 337 looms, worn out, and its capital increased from $469,000 
to $716,500, a great and injudicious disparity between capital and 



17© 

ispindles. Yet with this great disparity, its exhibit ^develops the 
astonishing fact that in 1873, it had renewed the greater part of 
its machinery, increasing its spindles to 24,000, and its looms to 
570, and the productive capacity from 80,000 to 200,000 yards per 
week; and all this without assessing its stockholders. The princi- 
pal additions^ and repairs were completed in the spring of 1868, 
leaving a commercial capital of $6,600 ; and yet, after paying in 
four years $229,280 in dividends, the surplus amounted, in March, 
1872, to the handsome sum of $354,288.22— all made legitimately by 
the manufacture of cotton, and so much confidence was felt in 
the future of the mill that the treasurer bought up 1,000 shares 
of their own stock at $1.45 per share — 45 per cent, premium — as 
an investment for the Company." 

The Eagle and Phoenix Mill, of Columbus, Ga., can make a 
good showing also. It has paid its stockholders, as th% Eeport of 
January, 1877, shows, the sum of $799,000 in dividends from the 
year 1869, and increased its productive capacity very largely. Its 
earnings for the past year were about $150,000, or considerably 
over 10 per cent, on its capital stock. The company is so much 
encouraged that it has recently completed a new 20,000 spindle 
mill, in addition to the old mills, which they confidently allege is 
the finest in all of its equipments in the South, or perhaps in the 
country, for the character of goods manufactured. 

And a review of the history of all the mills in the South, 
where they have been properly managed, would convince the 
most skeptical that the manufacture of cotton in the South is no 
experiment, but eminently successful, and repays more promptly 
the capital engaged in it than any other industry of which we 
know. 

But may not these wonderful examples, cited, be the excep- 
tion, and not the rule in the South ? Would mills erected now, 
in these hard times — in times of depression and strikes, and other 
civil and monetary revolutions and uncertainties, be likely to pay ? 
A sufficient answer to this would be to point to the dividends 
^recently declared by nearly all the mills of the South. The mills, 
to which allusion has been specially made, were all small at one 
time, and would not be regarded as very extensive establishments 
by Northern manufacturers now. But they have by proper manage- 
ment, and by the great and decided advantage the South posses- 
ses for the manufacture of cotton, built themselves up to their 
present very respectable proportions. Kow let us examine some 
of the advantages the South possesses. 

"The extraordinary success and prosperity of the LoweU 



manufacturer is well known, (we quote from a pamphlet entitled 
" Cotton Manfacturing in the State of Georgia," issued in 1873, 
under the auspices of the mills at and near Augusta, of that 
State). " Yet the Lowell manufacturer is at a decided disadvantage 
as compared with his future Southern rival. If he buys his cotton 
at this point (Augusta), he will have to pay $7.65 freight and 
expenses on each bale of cotton he manufactures, paying this on 
dirt and waste as well as on fibre, besides 30 cents per cwt.^ and 
insurance, back to Kew York on his manufactured goods. Our 
manufacturers, on the other hand, get their cotton at their own 
doors, and sell about one-half of their manufactured products at 
home, thus avoiding the expenses referred to : while the other 
half, which is marketed in ISTew York, costs for insurance and 
conveyance thither only |1.90 per bale containing 300 pounds of 
goods." 

" Another item in favor of our continued success as a manu- 
facturing community, consists in the advantage we possess of 
cheap freights to St. Louis, Cincinnati, and other Western points. 
The regular rate of freight from l^ew York to St. Louis, during 
the winter months, is $1.58 per cwt., or $4.74 per bale, whilst 
from here, (Augusta) it is $1.90 per bale, or 611c. per cwt. (It is 
44 cents per cwt., or $1.46J per bale from Selma now.) We are a 
cotton producing people, and our planters cannot be induced to 
grow their own provisions, consequently we are supplied to a 
very great extent from the West : and as there is but a limited 
demand for freight room in that direction, the trains go back com- 
paratively empty. Thus it is that we make our own terms, and 
save $2.84 per bale in freights west, on our production, over the 
New England manufacturer. To make this plain we will 
endeavor to make a clear tabular statement : 

The Lowell manufacturer, buying his cotton in 

Augusta, pays on a bale of cotton of. 450 pounds. 

Less 15 per cent, waste 67^ " 

382^ pounds. 

A freight of ;. $ 5.00 

A commission of 1.50 

Insurance ,. 60 

Exchange and shipping expenses and truckage 65 

^ $ 7.65 

Add to this, freight of 30c. per cwt,, on 382| pounds of 

goods to New York, and insurance, 25e 1.41 

And we find it costs the Lowell manufacturer to lay 

down his cotton and ship, back to New York $ 9.06 

Deduct cost of shipping goods from Augusta to New 
York, of 50c. per cwt. freight, and 14c. per cwt. 



insurance, and we have on 382J pounds of goods, at 

64c. per cwt 2.44 

Leaving a net saving to the Augusta manufacturer on 

every bale of cotton manufactured $ 6.62 

Follow this further, and we have on 382^ pounds of 
manufactured goods shipped direct to the West, a 
saving of freight over New York of 94Jc. per cwt., 
or on every bale of cotton 3.61 

Leaving in that case a net saving to us of. $10 23 

Take the capital stock of our mills and number of bales con- 
sumed, and compare it with the difference in the price of cotton 
saved, and you will in the first case, (at $6.62) have a difference 
of 7 per cent, in our favor ; in the latter, ($10.23) over 10 per 
cent." 

This answers the question fairly and squarely, why these mills 
are not the exceptions and are the rule in the South, and why our, 
mills have paid and will always pay, with proper management. 
When the mills of the North are making nothing, we make 10 
per cent., or thereabouts. 

Again, ice locked for a considerable portion of the year, the 
Northern looms and spindles stand idle, whilst much of the 
expense is going on : or in other words, their running time in a 
year does not equal ours. In every mill the object and aim of a 
superintendent, after he gets his machinery adjusted to produce 
the article of goods he desires, is to keep his spindles constantly 
humming and his looms clacking. They never get tired, and are 
ever ready to do the bidding of the mind under whose control 
they so wonderfully work. 

By the Census of 1870, we find thirteen establishments in Ala- 
bama, employing 1,032 hands, costing per year $216,679, or within 
a fraction of 70 cents on an average per day for each employe. 
There were in Massachusetts at the same date, 191 establish- 
ments, employing 43,512 hands of all kinds, costing $13,589,305, 
or a little over $1.12 on an average per hand per day. This 
shows 42 cents per hand per day more than in Alabama. This 
difference arises partly, at least, from the mildness of our climate 
which makes unnecessary the same provision for the mainten- 
ance of the labor — and from the scarcity of diversified industries 
with us offering employment to labor, as well as the willingness 
on the part of our laborer to be employed at any work%^hich 
gives a steady living. " But for these advantages, the business 
could not have been sustained under the difficulties which have 
beset the South since the war. Onerous taxation by unscrupu- 
lous State Governments, unskilled labor, and inability to com- 



^t3 

mand at will the necessary capital, have been drawbacks thai 
only great advantages could otherwise counterbalance." But 
these are now happily passing away, and the light again breaks 
in upon the South. 

» "Not as in Northern climes, obscurely bright, 

But with unclouded blaze of living light." 

Cotton goods have never been so cheap as now. The mills 
are selling their production at about 6 cents per yard, for shirt- 
ing, 7 cents for sheeting, and 7f cents for drilling. Now what is 
the profit, if any, in these figures *? 

In the ordinary i shirting, which is in most demand in South 
Alabama, and Mississippi, we have in every pound, 3.72 yards. 
This at 6 cents per yard, produces 22.32 cents per pound of goods. 
The cotton on a basis of lOi cents per pound, and cost of manu- 
facturing, 7 J cents, make 18 cents, as the cost of turning out a 
pound of ^ goods, which deducted from the 22.32 cents, for 
which it sells, gives us the handsome profit of 4.32 cents per 
pound of goods. And it must be remembered, too, that the 7i 
cents per pound paid for changing the fibre into cloth is brought 
from abroad, and disbursed in the community, which is really a 
profit to every place in which a cotton mill is situated. It is 
money brought there w^dch would otherwise stay away. 

Examine it in another way and the result is about the same. 

A mill of 4,000 spindles and 125 looms, we will say, makes 6,000 

yards of cloth per day, thus : 

3,000 yards I shirting, at 6 cents $180.00 

3,000 yards 4-4 sheeting, at 7 cents , 210.00 

Total Gross Income , $390.00 

Cotton on a basis of lOJ cents, 15 per cent. 

waste $220.94 

Labor and mill expenses 63.44 

Office and general expenses 9 62 

Coal, gas, oil, starch and supplies 19.00 

Insurance , 3.11 

Charges in selling goods, 2|^ per cent.. 9.75 

Wear and tear machinery, 5 per cent. 13.69 — 339.55 

Leaving a net profit, per day, of. $ 50.45 

Or for 300 working days, or one year of $15,135.00 

With goods at even these low figures there is a handsome 
profit to the manufacturer in the South. But when goods advance 
even i cent per yard, the profit becomes so large that no other 
business in the country can compare with it: no other invest- 
ment return such an income. 

But this much for those immediately engaged in the manufac- 
ture of cotton in the South. Let us examine into the benefits 



.474 

whicli will accrue to tlie community that engages largely in it. 
And we will take Montgomery as an illustration, which will apply 
alike to all the other cities and towns in Alabama. 

It is an axiom of political economy that any community, 
county. State or country which imports more than it exports in 
value, must of necessity grow poorer, and that the converse of 
the rule is equally clear and axiomatic, viz : that the community, 
county, State or country which exports more than it imports in 
value must of necessity grow richer. Hence it is that political 
economists watch with such sharp and eager eyes the result of 
importations and exportations, knowing full well that this is the 
key which unlocks and reveals the certainty of poverty or pros- 
perity, as the one or the other is persistently persevered in by the 
people of any given country or community. 

l^ow, with this A, B, 0, rule to start with, apply the results to 
the city of Montgomery. That city receives on an average, 
70,000 bales of cotton annually — sometimes it is more, rarely less. 
Taking $60.00 per bale as an average price, we have |4,20<>,000 as 
the sum produced by the sale of all the cotton which comes to 
that city in one year. There is but little else sent away which 
brings money in — so little that it is not necessary to consider it 
in the calculation. Out of this $4,200,Qp0 every man, woman, and 
child who lives and deals in Montgomery, must get a living for a 
year. All the hats, collars, neckties, shirts, coats, pants, drawers» 
socks, shoes, suspenders, and buttons, (all imported) with the 
keys in their pockets and the purse in which their share of the 
money is carried, indeed every thing which they wear and much 
of what they eat, must be paid for, if at all, out of the money 
which comes for cotton exported. How vitally are they then 
interested in the cotton crop, and that it shall bring a large price ? 
A short crop and low prices produce distress, because the 
imports exceed the exports, in value, and they are growing 
poorer. A large crop and high prices produce a corresponding 
amount of prosperity and happiness, (so far as money can pro- 
duce that) because the exports are exceeding the imports in value. 
Now, for nearly every year, except one or two, since the war, the 
people have been importing more than the cotton crop would 
bring, and the necessary result has followed as surely as the roar 
of the thunder follows the lightning's flash, or as night succeeds 
the day. We are poorer than we were a few years back. In the 
vain struggle to recover fast fading, and fast receding fortunes, 
we sink deeper in distress and debt, and ponder and think, and 
think and ponder, over the times when the old order of things 



shall exist, and long with aching heart and brain for them to 
come again. But they haste not to come again, because we are 
violating a rule, a law, which is never bending and never changes. 

!Now suppose we were able to manufacture these 70,000 
bales of cotton (a thing not impossible : it is our right, and our 
duty to do so) and what would be the result? If the figures 
above given are true, it would be worth to Montgomery 18,400,000, 
Or double what it now brings. Suppose we throw into Montgom- 
ery $4,200,000, annually, more than it now receives for its cotton 
crop — we will say for five years— and what a rich city it would 
soon become ! Hundreds from afar wonldjbe tempted to make it 
their homes, and we would soon have, instead of 10,000 people, a 
population of double that number, with double the amount of 
money there. " Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles 
be gathered." 

And this would be the case in all of our noble State, our 
exports would exceed our imports in value. Eich, prosperous, 
contented, happy, with teeming fields and roaring mills, we 
would buUd again the fortunes of our homes, and rear our sons 
and daughters to be what their forefathers have been, the noblest 
type of the Anglo Saxon race. 

Our State is peculiary located. The Alleghany mountains 
stretching in a southwestern direction from the north, break into 
hills about the centre of the State. From this point the hills 
gradually diminish in elevation and sweep away into the flat 
country of South Alabama. The streams rising in the mountains 
flow to the rivers, both of which tumble and leap over many falls 
on their way to the oeean. In a circle, about equi-distant from the 
mountains and the great agricultural belt in the southern part of 
the State, we see the falls at Columbus, on the Chatahoochee; 
those at Tallassee, on the Tallapoosa ; those at Wetumpka, on the 
Coosa; those at Lilly Shoals, on the Oahaba; and those at 
Tuscaloosa, on the Warrior, with innumerable smaller ones on the 
creeks and lesser streams, altogether maTiing suf&cient power, if 
properly utilized, to turn spindles enough to consume all the 
cotton raised in the State, and designed by an all wise Creator for 
the use of His creatures, who showed people this great terri- 
tory, and who should aid in clothing the world out of the great 
staple given to them to the exclusion of a great part of the 
human family. But it takes a very large outlay of capital in the 
first instance to control this water. Dams must be built and 
races cut, which always cost high in a State where the storm 
fiend rages with such fury, and the water rises so rapidly. Hence 



little of this immense power has been brought under the sway of 
men; and it thunders and roars as loudly in itg idle call as it has 
ever done since the hills were made. But fortunately no one now 
need be deterred from embarking in the manufacture of cotton 
because he has not a water power. Steam has long been used, 
and that profitably. It is yet a mooted question as to which is 
preferable, steam or water power. Out of the 2,483 cotton mills 
in England, Scotland and Ireland, with their 37,000,000 spindles 
and 600,000 looms, the proportion of moving power is 300,480 
horse power for steam, to 8,390 horse power for water ; and in the 
United States, the moving power in the 95(5 establishments, as 
rei!>orted in the Census of 1870, stands 47,117 horse power for 
steam, against 99,191, for w^ter, or about one-half for steam. But 
no one can deny the fact that' water, when once under control, is 
cheaper than steam ; but experience has shown that situated as 
we are, steam can be made for many years to come the more 
economical of the two. Our system of railroads conduces much 
to this end, as well as the much greater outlay of capital it takes 
to control water. We cite Montgomery again, as an illustration. 
Here many railroads converge. Freights are brought down to 
something like a reasonable rate, and goods can be shipped a 
thousand miles away as cheaply as they can be sent one hundred 
on a local tariff. Indeed, in building a cotton mill at a point 
where these advantages can be had, on account of competition 
amongst the railroads, enough can be saved over a point on a 
single line of railroad, where local freights are always exacted, to 
buy an engine, supply it with coal, and pay your engineer. And 
this can be done nearly every year, when goods are shipped to 
distant markets. There is one wall built for controlling the 
water at the Eagle and Phoenix Mills, in Columbus, Georgia, 
which, I am informed, cost $75,000. The interest on this,, each 
year, would purchase a Corliss Engine of sufiicient power to 
turn 5,000 spindles with all the accompanying machinery of a 
first class establishment. So there is considerable doubt in the 
minds of mill engineers, as to which is preferable, when all the 
facts are considered. So steam seems to present the cheapest 
motive power in this State where coal is now so plentiful and so 
cheap, for companies with small capital ; as much of what must 
be laid out in controlling water, when such is used, could be 
invested in machinery where steam is adopted.* 

* Mr. Haralson's paper ends here. 



277 

THE COTTON MILLS OF ALABAMA. 
IN NOBTH ALABAMA. 

Bell Factory, — Bell Factory Manufacturing Company, J. R. Stevens, 
President, W. H. Echols, Secretary and Treasurer ; on Flint river, in 
Madison county, 10 miles northeast of Hun tsville ; Postoflfice, Huntsville; 
joint stock ; water power ; cotton spindles 2,352 ; 80 looms, 51, 4-4 sheet- 
ing, 25 check looms, balance twill looms; 1 set manufacturing wool 
cards ; 1 custom card ; 60 wool spindles ; sheetings, ginghams, tucks, and 
plaids.* 

Cypress Mills.— Cypress Mills Company, A. H. Jones, President ; 
PostoflBce, Florence ; capital stock $75,000, in shares of $100 each ; opera- 
tions commenced April, 1873; water power, 12 feet fall ; 3,000 spindles ; 
60 looms; 50 hands; Cypress Mills sheeting; annual consumption, 600 
bales cotton. 

Brandon Mills.— Irvine, Brandon & Co.; iu Lauderdale county, 
on Little Cypress Creek, 8 miles north of Florence ; Postofflce, Flor- 
ence ; Water power; 1,500 spindles; 40 hands; annual consumption, 500 
bales cotton ; yarns for Philadelphia market. 

Mountain Mills.— In Colbert county ; Postofflce, Barton Station ; 
capital stock, $65,000 ; operations commenced, 1878 ; steam; 2,220 spin- 
dles ; 70 hands ; yarn for Philadelphia market. 

Allen's Factory.— L. M. Allen & Co.; on Bear Creek, in Marion 
county; Postofflce, Allen's Factory, Marion county; capital, $20,000 ; 
operations commenced, 1868; water power; 640 spindles; 30 hands; cot- 
ton yarns ; annual consumption, 280 bales cotton. 

Fall Mills.— Fall Manufacturing Company ; on Bear Creek, in Ma- 
rion county, 2i miles from Allen's Factory ; Postofflce, Alien's Factory, 
Marion county; capital, $15,000; operations commenced, October, 1877 ; 
v/ater power; cotton yarns and wool carding; hands, 35; 732 spindles; 
600 pounds yarn a day ; annual consumption, 600 bales cotton ; company 
proposes to introduce looms and woolen machinery. 

IN MIDDLE ALABAMA. 

Rock Mills.— r.ock Mills Manufacturing Company ; F. P. Handle, 
President and Agent; in Randolph county; Postofflce, Rock Mills, 
Randolph county ; 2,300 spindles ; 56 looms ; brown sheeting, shirting, 
and osnaburgs. 

Bradford Factory.— Simpson & Moore; iu Coosa county; Post- 
office, Kellyton, Coosa county; osnabnrgs and yarns. 

Stafford Mills.— H. C. Jones, Treasurer; at Yorkville, in Pickens 
county; Postofflce, Columbus, Miss.; 1,500 spindles; sheetings, yarns, 
etc. 

Tuscaloosa Mills.— Formerly, Kennedale Mills; Tuscaloosa Manu- 
facturing Company, N. N. Clements, President; at Cottondale, on Ala- 
bama Great Southern Railroad, 7 miles east of Tuscaloosa ; Postofflce, 
Tuscaloosa; capital stock, $40,000, $100 shares, owned in Tuscaloosa; 
♦This Is tlie pioneer factory in the State. 



operations commenced by present Company, October, 1877 ; steam, 150 
horse power; 5,500 spindles; 128 looms; hands, 150; checks, plaids, 
stripes, cottonades, brown domestics, shirtings, and sheetings ; annual 
consumption, 1,000 bales cotton; 240 looms and fine set of woolen 
machinery unboxed and never put up ; only 128 looms running, which 
fill present building ; Company proposes soon to double capacity of mill, 
by erecting additional buildings and putting up idle machinery. 

Autaugaville Factory.— Theodore Nunn, Proprietor; PostoflSce, 
Autaugaville, Autauga county ; 2,200 spindles ; sheetings, shirtings, and 
osnaburgs. 

Planters' Factory.— In Autauga county; PostoflBce, Autaugaville; 
3,000 spindles. 

Prattville Mills.— Prattville Manufacturing Co., No. 1, H. F. De 
Bardeleben, Pres't, Geo. L. Smith, Sec; Postoflfice, Prattville, AutauTca 
county; capital stock, $107,000; operations commenced, 1846; water- 
power ; 4,600 spindles ; 128 looms ; 150 hands ; annual consumption, 
2,500 bales cotton ; osnaburgs. 

Lehman Mills.— Lehman Manufacturing Co., Lehman, Durr & Co., 
Montgomery, Proprietors; at Prattville, Autauga county; Postoffice, 
Prattville ; operations commenced, 1866 ; water-power ; 5,300 spindles ; 
100 looms ; 100 hands ; annual consumption, 1,800 bales cotton ; shirtings 
and sheetings. 

Tallassee Factory.— Tallassee Falls Manufacturing Co., {new 
company, just organized), John W. Durr, Pres't, James A. Farley, 
Treas.,fchas. T. Pollard, Sec; at Tallassee Falls, on Tallapoosa river, in 
Elmore county, about 35 miles from Montgomery, and 5J miles from 
Cowles' Station, Western Railroad ; PostoflSee, Cowles' Station, Macon 
county; water power; 18,000 spindles; 234 looms; 600 hands; annual 
consumption, 6,000 bales cotton ; sheetings, shirtings, osnaburgs and 
yarns. , 

Mathews' Mills.— Mathews' Cotton Mills Company, 8. F. Hobbs, 
Pres't, H. A. Haralson, Sec. and Treas., E. 8. Hobbs, Sup't ; at Selma, 
Dallas county; Postoffice, Selma; capital stock, $100,000, $100 shares, 
owned in Selma and vicinity ; operations commenced, July 1, 1877 ; 
steam, 100 horse power ; 4,584 spindles ; 127 looms ; 120 hands ; annual 
consumption, 1,500 bales cotton ; shirtings, sheetings, osnaburgs, and 
drills. 

IN SOUTHERN ALABAMA. 

Cherokee Mills.— L. F, Irwin, Proprietor; at Mobile; PostofQce, 
Mobile ; operations commenced, February, 1874 ; steam ; 472 spinldes ; 
20 hands; twine, and carpet warps; annual consumption, from 300 to 
350 bales cotton. 

Mobile Cotton Mills.— Mobile Cotton Mills Company, W. H. Lein- 
kauf. President, E. S. Barnes, Secretary and Treasurer, Z. Ross, Super- 
intendent ; Postoffice, Mobile ; authorized capital stock, $50,000, paid in 
$27,700, balance being now subscribed for purpose of doubling capacity 
of mills; operations commenced, March, 1878; steam; 1,344 spindles ; 40 
hands ; annual consumption, 600 bales cotton ; warp yarns, rope, carpet 
warp, twine, etc. 



Part Sixteenth. 



Miscellaneous Information, 



THE LIME, AND LIME WORKS OF ALABAMA. 

Alabama is rich in true dolomite or magnesian limestone, to be 
found in many localities, of the finest quality, inexhaustible in 
quantity, and easy of access. This limestone is said to be very 
uniform in composition, and noted for the whiteness of the lime 
produced from it, and the excellence and hardness of the mortar 
it affords, which is often more or less hydraulic. 

Lime burning is already a considerable industry in the State, 
and is rapidly growing, as the following list of its principal Lime 
Works shows. 

Chewacla Lime Works.— Chewacla Lime Company, Chas. T. Pol- 
lard. President, Avery L. Olapp, Superintendent; 3 miles off Western 
Railroad, near Yongsboro, in Lee county; Postoffice, Yongsboro, Lee 
county; capital stock, $100,000 ; rock been worked since 1853; 3 Kilns, 
granite; works equal to best; rock quarried within 100 feet of Kilns, 
and inexhaustible; daily capacity, 250 barrels; daily production, 250 
barrels; works run to full capacity, and demand greater than supply ; 
marketed all through Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, and Missis- 
sippi ; average annual sales since 1871,45,000 barrels; sales in 1877, 
50,000 barrels; labor mixed, and reliable; fuel, wood ; stave, heading, 
and barrel machinery, first class ; Company's narrow gauge railroad con- 
nects works with Western Railroad, at Yongsboro ; Company in fine 
condition. 

Analysis of Limestone, hy Prof. Tuomey. 

Carbonate of Lime 55.16 

Carbonate of Magnesia 44.22 

Oxide of Iron ., 44 

Insoluble Matter 79 

100.61 
Calera Lime Works. — N. B. Dare, Proprietor; at Calera, Shelby 
county; PostoflQce, Calera; business commenced at Shelby Lime Works 
in 1868, removed to Calera in 1874; one large Kiln, with barrel mill, 
cooper and blacksmiths' shops ; daily capacity, 110 barrels ; daily pro- 
duction, 90 barrels; rock in immediate vicinity of Kiln; fuel, wood, or 
coal; labor, good; average annual production since commencing opera- 
tions, 30,000 barrels; lime marketed throughout the South as far as Gal- 
veston, and North as high as Louisville and Cairo. 



28o 

Analysis of Limestone, by Prof. Cassels, Cleveland, Ohio. 

Moisture evolved at 212 degrees, Fahrenheit 0.50 

Carbonate of Lime 98.65 

Phosphate of Iiime 0.75 

Silex : 0.10 

100.00 

Siluria Lime Works.—T. G. Holt, Proprietor; at Siluria, Shelby 
county; Postoffice, Siluria; operations commenced, October 1, 1871; 
daily capacity, 100 barrels ; daily production, 80 barrels ; limestone, of 
best quality, inexhaustible, and in immediate vicinity of Kiln ; fuel, 
wood and coal; lime marketed from Savannah, Georgia, to Galveston, 
Texas. No analysis of limestone furnished. 

Whiting Lime Works.— Flournoy, Moore, and Holt ; on South and 
North Railroad, 73 miles north of Montgomery, in Shelby county ; Post- 
office, Longview, Shelby county ; one large Kiln, with barrel mill, 
cooper, and blacksmith shops; daily capacity, 105 barrels; daily produc- 
\ tion, 80 barrels ; limestone, of excellent quality, inexhaustible, and half 
mile from Kiln ; fuel, wood and coal. No analysis of limestone fur- 
nished. 



-•-♦-. 



THE DANIEL PRATT GIN COMPANY. 

Works located at Prattville, Autauga county, and owned and 
operated by M. E. Pratt, and H. F. DeBardeleben; Postoffice 
Prattville ; established by the late Daniel Pratt, in 1838, and has 
been in continuous and successful operation since, except during 
the war; manufacture, the Daniel Pratt Cotton Gin; annual 
capacity, 1,500 gins ; 75 hands ; water power. 



STOCK RAISING IN ALABAMA. 

Prior to the war, the planters in Alabama were so given up to 
agriculture, especially the cultivation of cotton, that little or no 
attention was given to this important industry. Now, however, 
stock raising is rapidly growing in favor among our people, and 
the importation of blooded stock yearly increasing. The Durham, 
the Ayrshire, and the Jersey thrive remarkably well with us, 
particularly in the more northern portion of the State, and are 
easily acclimated. The grasses of that section are rich and afford 
excellent pasturage and hay. The immense cane tracts of Middle- 
and Southern Alabama, also afford excellent pasturage for stock. 
Our climate being almost exempt from snow apd ice, and our 
winters mild and pleasant, stock, here, does not require the great 
and expensive care necessary to shelter and provide for it, during 



28l 

the long, bleak winters of higher latitudes. Horses and mules 
are, also, successfully raised in many parts of the State. 

SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN ALABAMA. 

For the sanie reason — exclusive attention to cotton culture — 
sheep raising has, heretofore, received but minor consideration at 
the hands of Alabama planters, notwithstanding there are few 
sections where sheep can be raised more profitably than in this 
State. Kow, this husbandry is beginning to be appreciated by 
our farmers, and wool growing taking its proper rank among our 
other industries. 

GAME. 

The woods of Alabama abound in game of nearly every descrip- 
tion — such as wild deer, turkeys, ducks, partridges, woodcocks, 
snipe, etc., which affords not alone very fine sport, but contributes 
largely to the table. The markets of Mobile, in the proper seasons, 
are filled with game, brought from the immediate vicinity of the 
city or the interior of the State. 

FISH. 

Nowhere is to be found a greater variety of Fish than the 
waters of Alabama afford, and the quality of many of these 
varieties is' unsurpassed. The Bay of Mobile is famous in this 
respect; and the rivers of the State are filled with many kinds ot 
fish. The United States Government is now engaged in stocking 
our rivers with shad, one of the most delicate and highly prized 
of the finny tribe, and in time a bountiful harvest of this most 
excellent fish may be expected. 

POULTRY. 

In every section of Alabama, poultry of all kinds may be suc- 
cessfully raised, and nowhere does the domestic turkey and duck 
do better. The most improved breeds of fowls find a congenial 
climate in this State, and thrive well. 

VEGETABLES. 

Every variety of vegetable is successfully cultivated in Alabama; 
and, owing to our mild climate, in many parts of the State fresh 
vegetables may be gathered from the garden throughout the entire 
year — summer and winter. 



282 



ALABAMA TRADE STATISTICS. 



TOTAL COTTON RECEIPTS AT MOBIIiE FOB 61 YEABS. 



Years. Bales. 

1818 7 000 

1819 10,000 

1820 16 000 

1821 25.390 

1822 45 423 

1828.,... 49,061 

1824 44 924 

1825 58283 

1826 74.379 

1827 89,779 

1828 71,155 

1829 80 329 

1830 ..102 684 

1831 ...113,075 

1832 125 605 

1833 .129 366 

1834 ; 149513 

1835 197 847 

1836 237,590 

1837 , 232 685 

1838 309 807 

1839 .251 742 

1840 ...445 725 

1841 317 642 

1842 ..318,315 

1843 ....... 481 714 

1844 467,990 

1845 517 196 

1846 , 421 669 

1847 322,516 



Years. Bales. 

1848 438,324 

1849 617846 

1850 350 297 

1851 461 697 

1852 549 772 

1853 546 514 

1854 538,110 

1855 464 595 

1856 659 738 

1857 503 137 

1858 522,843 

1859.. 704 406 

1860 842 729 

1861 54b,441 

1862-4 

1865 „ 75.305 

18B6 429 102 

1867 239 516 

1868 366,193 

1869 230 621 

1870 , 306 061 

1871.. .........404 673 

1872 288 012 

1873 332 457 

1874 299 678 

1875 320,822 

1876 374 672 

1877 360,918 

1878 419,071 



COMPARATIVE VALUE OF DOMESTIC EXPOBTS 

To Foreign Ports from Mobile (years ending June 30th) for eight years. 



1871 .^...$21 874 708 

1872 13 954.660 

1873 12 375,115 

1874 10,282,734 



1875 .....$10 136.814 

1876 15.156.224 

1877 12 812 065 

1878 9,126,634 



COMPARATIVE VALUE OF IMPORTS 



Of Foreign Goods into the Port of Mobile (years ending June 30th) for 
eight years. 



1871 $1,811614 

1872 1.761,657 

1873 1,099 716 

1874 „. 886,411 



1875 $1,060,229 

1876 1,611,020 

1877 648,404 

1878 1,148,442 



283 



TABLE OF ENTRANCES AND CLEARANCES 

At the Port of Mobile for the year ending June 30th, 1878. 
Arrivals. Clearances. 

ENTRIES. VESSELS. TONS. CREW. VESSELS. TONS. CREW. 

Foreign 75 44 093 1,043 78 46 617 1090 

American... 64 31 167 635 81 32,218 749 

Coastwise... 74 21,666 660 55 12,766 346 

Total 213 96,926 2,338 214 92,601 2,185 

VALUE MOBILE FISH AND OYSTER TRADE. 

1878. 1877. 

Fish.... $30 401.55 $25 000.00 

Oysters, Plants 30 000 00 26,0(10 00 

Oysters, Reefers ; 70,000 00 66 600.00 

Total $130,401.55 $117,500.00 



Part Seventeenth. 



The Climate of Alabama, and its Adaptation to HealiJi and Comfort.* 



WM. H. ANDERSON, M. D., PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY EST THE MEDICAL 
COLLEGE OF ALABxiMA, MOBILE. 

The State of Alabama lies between the 31st and the 35th 
parallels of latitude. It may be inferred, therefore, that the cli- 
mate is temperate in winter and not excessively hot in summer. 
It is bounded by Tennessee on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico 
and a part of Florida on the south. About midway between the 
Gulf coast and the Tennessee line, the land rises considerably, 
and culminates in a semi-mountainous district, reaching an eleva- 
tion in some places of twelve hundred feet above the sea level. 
As every county is more or less populated, and as many of the 
counties are in afiiliation with the Medical Association of the 
State, we are enabled to have a pretty correct idea of the sanitary 
condition of every part of the State- 
It may be said without fear of contradiction that Alabama is 
one of the healthiest States in the Union. The various papers 
which have been read before the Medical Association for the last 
thirty years, accompanied as they have been in many instances by 
valuable statistics, go to prove that very few portions of the 
State are unhealthy, and these few localities suffer only at certain 
seasons of the year. The great agricultural and mineral regions 
of the State are unexcej^tionably healthy, while the pine district, 
reaching a hundred mi'es from the coast, and intersected by nu- 
m.erous clear and cool streams of the purest water, is free from 
every kind of disease. The longevity in this region is proverbial, 
and the climate is so bland, equable and delightful, that this por- 
tion of the State is fast becoming a popular resort during the fall 
and winter months for invalids from the Northwest, who are 
forced to seek at that season a more genial climate than their 
o\7n. 

As this paper is designed to give a truthful account of the 

* Written, expressly for this Hani>-Book. 



sanitary condition of Alabama, we will divide the. State into 
Northern, Middle, and Southern Alabama, and treat of each sec- 
tion separately. Northern Alabama embraces a district of 
country bounded by Tennessee on the north, Greorgia on the 
east, and Mississippi on the West. The whole division is a fine 
farming country and is interspersed by many lofty hills averaging 
from four hundred to twelve hundred feet above the level of the 
sea. It is well watered and possesses a delightful climate. The 
diseases in summer consist of light bilious fever, intermittent 
fever, and sometimes mild dysentery and bowel alioctions. These 
diseases are brief in their course and generally speaking very 
amenable to medical treatment. They are seldom fatal, and the 
robust and healthful appearance of the population proves that 
they seldom make serious inroads on the constitution. In the 
autumn the type of the fevers is rather more severe, but still the 
vast majority of the cases are relieved by medicine intelligently 
prescribed. The winter diseases consist principally of lung 
troubles, such as pneumonia, pleurisy, bronchitis, etc. On the 
whole, the health of Northern Alabama all the year round, will 
compare favorably with that of the same extent of territory in 
any part of the United States; while the temperature in winter 
is milder than that of Tennessee, and in suuimer, owing to the 
general elevation of the country, the climate is in every way 
delightful. 

The Middle Division of Alabama comprises the principal cot- 
ton growing section of the State. It is comparatively level, and 
is watered by numerous streams. As compared with the 
Northern Division it is not as healthy, and portions of it are 
visited in the latter part of summer and the early autumn with 
fevers of a severe type. Before the recent civil war, this was a 
comparatively healthy section of country, but the neglect of 
proper drainage and a more careless system of agriculture have 
had the effect of developing in the hot season of the year bilious 
fevers of a dangerous type. Ever^'^ year, however, remedies this 
evil, as the drainage becomes better, and the method of farming 
more consistent with the sup})ression of malarial poison. As a 
consequence of this, the last three years have been more healthy, 
and there is every reason to believe that the summer and au= 
tumnal fevers will annually become lighter and more easily man- 
aged. The sanitary measures that will be recommended by the 
State Board of Health, will contribute much towards lessening 
the cause of malignant diseases in this and other parts of Ala- 
bama. The Board of Health of the State is just getting into ac- 



tive operation, and in a few years every county that has a medical 
society, will be materially improved in a sanitary point of view. 
It is now a fact pretty well established, that the health of any 
given district of country is dependent mostly on the sanitary po- 
lice of such district. Fully alive to this problem of modern 
science, the Medical Association of Alabama is doing its utmost 
to press upon the Legislature of the State the importance of put 
ting the whole subject of sanitary police under the control of the 
medical profession of the State. At their instigation much has 
already been done by the intelligence of our Legislators, and 
more will be yearly accomplished in the same direction. 

Southern Alabama contains a small portion of the cotton 
region, and the whole district of country bounded by Florida and 
the Gulf coast on the south. This region, except on f^'e margin 
of the water courses, is covered with a growth of lofty pines, 
and has a sandy soil. With the exception of the immediate coast 
it is rather sparsely populated. It is a del ghtful region of 
country, well adapted to the growth of grapes and some of the 
tropical fruits. The whole district is exceedingly healthy. The 
climate is softened in winter and refreshed in summer by the sea 
breezes from the Grulf of Mexico. No more beautiful country for 
the residence of man is to be found than Southern Alabama. 
The elevation above the sea level rarely reaches more than three 
hundred and fifty feet, and the table lands, at this elevation, are 
noted for their salubriousness, and for the comfortable residence 
of invalids from the Korth and West, both in winter and summer. 
Abundance of fruit and large vineyards are found in this region. 
It is here, also, that the charming city of Mobile is located, 
immediately on the Bay of Mobile, and within forty miles of the 
Mexican Gulf. The climate of Florida, for a winter residence, 
although more noted, is not so agreeable or so wholesome, as the 
Gulf <Joast of Alabama. The chilly eastern breeze from the 
Atlantic, which is so disagreeable in Florida in February and 
March, is here replaced by the soft wind from the tropics. If it 
should happen that for any period of a week or two in winter, 
the Gulf breeze is loaded with too much moisture for invalids, 
they have but to retire from twenty to forty miles from the coast, 
where the elevation is too great for the fogs to ascend, and 
where pure springs, a sandy soil, and a bracing winter atmos- 
phere, furnish all the avenues to health that could be desired. 
Here, also, is to be found the best of hunting, the fields and 
forests being alive with partridges, wild turkeys, deer, and other 
game. 



287 

On the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, are several delightful 
watering places, much frequented in summer, and serving also as 
winter residences for some of the inhabitants. The climate on 
this shore is delightful all the year round, and parties are now 
contemplating the building of a sanitarium for invalids in the 
winter as well as the summer season. At Point Clear, about 
twenty miles from the city of Mobile, there is a large and elegant 
hotel, filled in summer with visitors from Alabama, Mississippi, 
and Louisiana. It is also open in winter to all who may desire to 
take advantage of the salt air from the Gulf. This watering place 
is the finest, most healthy, and most commodious in the South. 
The bathing houses are within fifty yards of the hotel. In the 
rear, and at the eastern end of the building, may be found the 
magnolia, growing, in many instances, to an enormous size, and 
filling the surrounding air, in spring, with its agreeable perfume. 
Some orange groves in full bearing already exist, and others on a 
large scale are coming to maturity. The whole shore, for twenty- 
five miles, is studded with cottages and handsome residences, 
which are filled to their utmost capacity during four or five 
months of the year. The Gulf breeze on this side of the bay 
must be felt to be appreciated. The Atlantic coast has no wind 
that can be compared with it, either for health or for agreeability. 
Its temperature is the same whether it rises into a gale, or blows 
lightly enough only to ruffle the quiet water of the bay. For this 
renson it is allowed to blow night and day through the cottages, 
where the doors and windows are left open, continually, to 
receive it. 

The city of Mobile, at the head of the bay, contains about 
forty thousand inhabitants. Of these, twenty-eight thousand are 
white, and twelve thousand are colored. As a place of residence 
it is delightful, and is one of the healthiest cities in the Union 
throughout the entire year. In the Past, the only drawback to 
its prosperity and rapid growth, has been the occasional appear- 
ance of Yellow Fever in an epidemic form. We have reason to 
believe, however, that there will be few, if any, more epidemics. 
The efficient Sanitary Police under the direction of a well organ- 
ized Board of Health, has had the effect to keep this disease out 
of the city for seven years past, although it has raged at Pensa- 
cola, Pascagoula, and New Orleans, adjacent cities, in daily com- 
munication with Mobile. 

From this brief sketch of the Climate of Alabama, it will be 
seen that no State in the Union possesses more desirable advan- 



288 

tages for the new settler, and none can surpass itin comfort for 
tlie population already living within its borders. 

It may be well here to mention some of the various diseases 
which the experience of the past half century proves to be ben- 
efit by a winter residence at or near the Gulf coast : 

First, consumption of the lungs. About forty years ago Mo- 
bile was a great resort for consumptives from the Northern 
States. It was thought that the mild climate would check the 
disease, and in time restore the patient to health. At any rate, it 
was reasonable to suppose that the disease would be much miti- 
gated, and that out door exercise, always so important, could be 
indulged in much oftener than in the North. The consequence 
was that hundreds of i^atients came annually to Mobile to pass 
the winter months. But the hope was delusive, and the city soon 
lost its reputation as -a good wiuter climate for consumption. Ex- 
perience indeed proved that during the greater part of the win- 
ter the patients were comfortable and seemed to rally;- but every 
now and then there came from the Gulf heavy fogs, which inter- 
fered seriously with continued improvement. But for the warm 
and oppressive atmosphere during the prevalence of these fogs, 
Mobile was all that could be desired. At the period we speak of, 
howev^r, there was no retreat from the moist atmosph^^rein ques- 
tion. There were no railroads to transport the invalids in an hour 
or two to a location above the influence of the Gulf fogs. Nor 
was there any inhabited country to receive them if they could 
have been moved off temporarily. The case is now different. In 
less than two hours the railroads will take us to a beautiful 
country, more than three hundred feet above the tide water, well 
cultivated with vineyards and orchards, populated by intelligent 
and hospitable inhabitants, and entirely out of the reach of the 
lowland mists. Under such circumstances Mobile is regaining 
he"r reputation as a winter home for consumptives. Patients may 
remain in the city and enjoy the comforts, amusements and ele- 
gancies of city life at least three weeks in every winter month. 
When the damp season comes on, they can go in an hour's notice 
to the pine hills in question and never suffer from the oppressive 
"weather. After spending a few days in this dry and healthy re- 
gion, where the time may be occupied, if desired, in hunting and 
fishing, they can return to the city to meet again the sunshireand 
the numerous enjoyments of city life. If this high country north 
of Mobile had been opened ui> and inhabited thirty or forty years 
ago, the city and the Gulf coast would never have lost reputa- 
tion as a location suitable for consumptives from the Northern 



states. Invalids, particularly consumptives, ouglit to spend 
much of their time in the winter season in or near a city. The 
mind has a powerful influence over the body, and while the latter 
requires to be invigorated by soft atmosphere and an agreeable 
climate, the former must also be nourished by the psychical stim- 
ulants of amusement in its various forms, and the convention- 
alities of elegant and refined society. Thousands of consump- 
tives from England and Northern Europe are sent by their phy- 
sicians to the cities on the Mediteranean to spend the winter. 
This is not altogether because of the climate, since Madeira and 
some of the Islands in the temperate latitude are known to 
possess a rather better climate ; but it is because in these islands 
there is nothing but the congenial atmosphere, while at Nice and 
other cities of Southern Europe, there are associations and di- 
versions which occupy the mind, and daily sustain and animate it 
with agreeable reflections. 

What has been said of climate as regards consumption, will 
apply also to other chronic diseases of the chest. Br nchitis is a 
very general ailment in the North and Northwest in the winter 
season. It is almost impossible to cure it when the patient is 
daily exposed to the rude blasts 'of the N'orth. No amount of 
warm clothing will keejp the cold air from affecting the system. 
It must be drawn into the lungs, and there the air at a tempera- 
ture of 20 to 30"^ Fnhr., suddenly comes in contact with a delicate 
inflamed membrane of the temperature of 98 to 100°. How is it 
possible then that the latter should not suffer ? Various devices 
have been used to soften the air by drawing it through woolen 
cloth placed over the mouth, and sometimes substituting for this 
a net work of fine wire, which being warmed by the escaped air, 
would heighten the temperature of the ingoing breath. But these 
have little effect. All physicians know that they are poor sub- 
stitutes, and that they retain the poisonous volatile animal matter 
of exhalation, and give it back again with the air that is inhaled. 
For these reasons Southern climates in winter act favorably on 
bronchitis. Another good effect produced by residence in a 
Southern climate during the harsher seasons, is that' the mild at- 
mosphere assists the action of remedies which are often required 
in chronic bronchitis. It is through the sMn that some of the 
most important of these remedies act ; and the more temperate the 
climate, within certain bounds, the more active are the cutaneous 
exhalations. So mild is the temperature in Mobile and on the 
Gulf coast in winter, that several days together are often passed 
without the necessity of lighting a fire. These mild spells of 



290 

W^eather may be spent by invalids in the open air, where in addition 
to the grateful sunshine, the moral effect of the rich foliage and 
the gay flowers of winter, insures that restorative influence which 
the mind always has over the body. 

In this short sketch we cannot particularize all the diseases, . 
that are benefitted by a residence in a southern climate, during 
winter. We must mention, however, the benign effect of a soft 
climate on chronic affections of the skin. The writer has known 
cases of Eczema and Psoriasis of forty years standing, to be 
apparently cured by a continued residence of twelve months 
consecutively, in Mobile. These cases came from Virginia, where 
the temperature is never so low as in the Northern and Western 
States. The cure is attributable to the mild breezes of the Gulf, 
which are never harsh, and which s re vail abundantly both in 
winter and summer. Chronic affections of the skin, although 
quite prevalent in the northern parts of the United States, are 
comparatively rare on the Gulf coast. Few originate here, and 
the greater number of persons who come to the South from 
northern climates, troubled with those affections, are either soon 
cured, or very muah relieved. Such diseases, also, are more 
amenable to treatment in southern than in northern climates. 

It has been the custom, for several years past, for physicians 
in the higher latitudes to send to Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, 
patients suffering with Bright's disease and other chronic affec. 
tions of the kidneys. This custom, suggested by theory, has 
been found to work well in practice. Any climate, not too debili- 
tating, that favors continued action of the perspiratory glands of 
the skin, must have a salutary effect in relieving congestion of 
the kidneys. We do not know of any case of Bright's disease 
that has been cured by being transferred to the South, but there 
is no doubt that the change is beneficial in winter, and makes the 
condition of the patient'much more comfortable. This is proved 
by the amelioration of many cases that are annually sent to 
Mobile and New Orleans. Doubtless the free exercise in the 
open air, which cannot be enjoyed ii the North, has much to do 
with this temporary improvement. 

It was the opinion of the late Professor J. 0. Nott, whose 
honesty of purpose, and critical acumen, were never doubted by 
those who knew him, that the Gulf coast is the healthiest portion 
of the United States, and is particularly adapted to the ameliora- 
tion of many diseases, made worse by passing the winter and 
early spring in northern districts. Certainly few men were as 
competent to judge in such matters as himself. A residence of 



291 

forty years in Mobile, with a reputation spreading over the entire 
Union, brought to his notice many sufferers from the North, who 
sought his medical aid during their winter sojourn in the South. 
The eminent Doctor Warren Stone, of New Orleans, shared the 
same opinion. Without dwelling longer, however, on this branch 
of the subject, we will append some statistical tables, which may 
be of service to such as are curious in the matters adverted to 
in the foregoing sketch. 

Temperature. 

From 1840 to 1875, the mercury of Fahrenheit's thermometer 
ranged from 65 to 101 degrees in the summer season. These are 
the extremes ; since the thermometer rarely reaches 98 degrees 
in any part of the State. The average summer temperature may 
be estimated at from 78 to 88 degrees from June 1st to Septem- 
ber 30th. 

In October, November, and during the winter months, the 
extremes of the temperature are from 80 to 20 degrees. Rarely, 
very rarely, does the thermometer indicate as low as 20 degrees, 
and December, January and February, are often passed through 
with, without a lower temperature than 28 degrees. The mean 
temperature of the State at large may be estimated at about 61 
degrees. 

Mortuary Statistics of Mobile. 

As far as the health of Mobile is considered, the following 
tables are given to show the mortality for the white population 
for the six years from 1845 to 1850 inclusive. 

Mortality of White Population. 



1845. 


1846. 


1847. 


1848. 


1849. 


1850. 


Total, 


320 


339 


443 


566 


637 


433— 


—2,738. 



The white population during these years averaged from fifteen 
to eighteen thousand. The white population for the last six years 
has averaged twenty-eight thousand, and yet the whole number of 
deaths among the whites during this period is very little more 
than in the six years, from eighteen hundred and forty-five to 
eighteen hundred and fifty, inclusive. 

The following table is taken from the Health Office Eeports. 

Mortality of White Population. 

1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. 1876. 1877. Total. 
519 510 563 509 482 410 2,993. 

In the above list of deaths is included those of one epidemic 



•of yellow fever, and one severe epidemic of small pox. The lat- 
ter counted more than one hundred and fifty deaths. 

This table shows how much more healthy the city is now, than 
it was twenty-five years ago, and even then, Mobile was consid- 
ered one of the healthiest cities in the Union. For the greater 
portion of the last six years the Board of Health has been very 
actively at work, and doubtless the increased health is owing to 
that circumstance. 

If we turn now to the mortality of the State at large, we will 
find that in proportion to the population, it is less than the mor- 
tality of most of the other States in the Union. We append the 
following tables compiled from ihe Census of 1860, by the author 
of the " Alabama Manual and Statistical Eegister," for the year 
1872. 

The per centage column shows the number of deaths for every 
one hundred persons in the various States mentioned. 

POPULATION. DEATHS. PEKCENTAGE. ONE FOR EVERY 

Alabama 9H4 2(>l 12 760 132 75 

Arkansas 485 ^'jO 8,860 2.03 49 

California ., 379 994 3,705 .97 102 

Connecticut 460,147 6,138 133 74 

Delaware 112 216 1346 1.11 90 

Florida...., 144 425 1769 125 79 

Georgia 1 (»57 286 12 Sn7 121 82 

Illinois...., 1,711,951 19 263 112 88 

Iowa... 674 913 7 260 l.(i7 93 

Indiana l,35(i 438 15 2(ii 1.12 88 

Kansas 107 306 1,443 1.34 74 

Kentucky ...1,155 684 16 407 144 70 

Louisiana 708,002 12,329 1.74 . 57 

Maine 62S 379 7 614 121 82 

Maryland 687.049 7 370 1 07 93 

Massachusetts 1,231,C63 21304 1.73 57 

Michis^an 749 118 7,399 .98 101 

Minnesota 172,123 1,109 .64 155 

Mississippi 791305 12,214 1.54 64 

Missouri 1,182,012 17 557 1.48 67/ 

New Hampshire 326,o73 4 469 137 72 

Kew Jersey 672 035 7.525 111 ' 89 

New York ..3 880 735 46 881 1.2(t 82 

North Carolina 992 622 12 607 127 78 

Ohio 2,359 611 24,724 1.05 94 

Oregon 62,465 251 .47 209 

Pennsylvania 2,906 115 30 214 1.03 96 

Rhode Island 174 620 2 479 1.41 70 

South Carolina 703,708 9,745 1.38 72 

Tennessee ........1,109 801 15 176 1.36 73 

Texas 604 215 9 369 165 64 

Vermont 315 098 3,355 lee 93 

Virginia 1,596 318 22 474 1.40 " 71 

Wisconsin 775 831 7",li'9 .92 108 

District of Columbia 75 080 1,L'75 169 68 

Nebraska 28 841 381 132 75 

New Mexico 93,616 1,305 1 39 71 

Utah 40,273 374 .92 107 



^93 

Let us now compare Alabama Tvi'h some other States, in order 
to show the comparative mortality from Consumption alone. 
Again we take the Census of 1860 : 

Population. Deaths by Consumption. 

Alabama 964 201 , 596 

Tennessee 1.109 801 1,440 

Massachusetts 1 2ii:063.... 4 845 

Kentucky.. 1.155 684... 1,742 

Missouri ...1,182,012 ...1,302 

This table exhibits a very small mortality from Consumption in 
Alabama as compared with the States mentioned in the table. 

When we come to examine the mortality from fevers (bilious, 
congestive, remittent, etc.) we find that even here, Alabama, in 
proportion to her population, loses fewer of her citizens by fever 
than Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, and other 
Southern States — except perhaps Florida. 

It is needless, however, to multiply arguments in favor of the 
health of Alabama. Viewed in any light, it is a God favored 
country, and is one of the very healthiest States in the Union.* 



THE MINERAL SPRINGS AND WATERS OF ALABAMA. 

Bailey Springs. — Lauderdale county, 9 miles northeast of 
Florence; connected with Memphis and Charleston Eailroad, at 
Florence, by daily stages ; location high and healthful ; waters 
excellent for dyspepsia, dropsy, gravel, scrofula, and all kindred 
diseases. 

Blount Springs.— Blount county, immediately on South and 
North Railroad, 130 miles north of Montgomery; surrounded by 
lof y mountains, and very healthful; waters especially adapted to 
cure of scrofula, rheumatism, dyspepsia, and all affections of the 
bladder and urinary "rgans. 

Sulphur Springs.— St. Clair county, on Alabama Great 
Southern Railroad, 112 miles north of Birmingham ; locality, salu- 
brious and elevated. 

Talladega Springs.— Talladega county, Selnia, Rome, and 
Dalton Railroad; locality, very health's- and elevated; water good 
for many diseases. 

Shelby Springs.— Shelby county, on Selma, Rome, and Dal- 
ton Railroad ; high and healthful, with valuable waters. 

Livingston Water. — Livingston, Sumter county, on Alabama 
Great Southern Railroad ; artesian well ; water especially adapted 
to the cure of dyspepsia. 

*Dr. Anderson's pajjer ends here. 



294 

Bladon Springs.— Choctaw county, 3 miles from Tombigbee 
river ; locality healthful, and waters very fine for many purposes. 

Healing Springs. — Washington county, 14 miles west of 
Buckatunna Station, Mobile and Ohio Railroad ; waters very val- 
uable in many diseases. 

Jackson Springs. — Clarke county, near Jackson; waters 
excellent. 



Conclusion. 



In 1819, Alabama became a member of the Federal Union — one 
of the sisterhood of States. At that time, her broad territory 
was almost an unbroken wilderness, and to a great extent obscured 
in primitive darkness : alone, the home of the native red man, and 
the hardy pioneer. It was not long to remain so, however, for the 
advancing tide of civilization brought with it brave hearts and 
strong arms, to conquer and subdue. The State's admission into 
the Union, was followed by a marked increase in population, and 
in 1830, scarcely eleven years thereafter, her population numbered 
309,527 souls — a gain of 181,626. Her progress was very rapid 
from that time until 1860, when we find her a great and opulent 
State, and ranking among the first of the States in population, 
wealth, and inteligence. But the war came, and Alabama was 
destined to walk through the fires of adversity. For four years, 
destruction and death swept around and over her : and in 1865, 
she emerged from the war, utterly impoverished, and dispairing. 
Her people once more essayed the task of climbing into the 
sunshine of prosperity, now more difficult than ever, and slow 
and painful was their progress, as round by round they mounted 
up. At last, after years of bitter struggle and self-denial, their 
patience and fortitude begin to be rewarded, and the State's great 
natural advantages and wonderful resources to receive the atten- 
tion they so eminently deserve. It was to direct the attention of 
the outside world to these advantages, and to aid our people in 
their brave efforts to build anew their shattered fortunes, more 
than for selfish ends, that the work of this Compilation was begun. 
If it succeeds in this respect, no matter how limited the extent, 
much good wUl have been accomplished, and the Author repaid 
for his labor. It has been his endeavor in an impartial manner, 
without embellishment or concealment, to present the truth about 
the State and her resources, firmly impressed with the conviction 
that no words of his could add a feather's weight to the potency 
of this truth. In as clear a manner as possible, but with much 
labor, he has aggregated Facts, and left them, in every instance, 
to speak for themselves. He has made no attempt to gloss, and 
style has been ign(?red for perspicuity. Whatever may be its 
faults, honesty of purpose and statement cannot be denied to the 
work. 



296 

In the preparation of the book, the Author has received great 
assistance from numbers of gentlemen, in all departments, to whom 
he bess to make here, the proper acknowledgements. They have 
the double satisfaction of knowing that they have not only placed 
him under obligations, but have done the State a service. 

In the compass of the work, much has been said ; but much 
has been necessarily left unsaid, to prevent swelling the volume 
to too great size. If, too, some subjects appear unduly abridged, 
let it be remembered what an immense mass of matter claimed the 
Author's attention, and how necessary it was for him to select and 
condense. 

If there is one thing which this Compilation has clearly demon- 
strated to the Author's mind, it is that Alabama, in time, is 
destined to become one of the grandest and richest of the States, 
and that her early future is bright with promise. And this is not 
mere uninformed conjecture, but a dispassionate conviction after 
an attentive study of her situation and resources. Nature has 
done all for Alabama, and it only remains for her people, by an 
intelligent use, to make the most of these munificent gifts. Her 
geographical position is unsurpassed for health and commerce ; 
her climate, genial ; her soils, varied, fertile, and reasonably sure 
of a remunerative yield ; her great forests clothed with a magnifi- 
cent growth, fit for all human uses ; her hills and valleys teeming 
with untold mineral wealth ; her great water lines only awaiting 
full development to take rank with the most favored. Add to 
these, her great railroads, traversing every section of the State; 
her excellent postal, telegraph, and express facilities; her fine 
wagon roads; her large and growing cities; her wise Constitu- 
tion; her stable and conscientiously administered government; 
her impartial, but firmly maintained laws ; her religious toleration; 
her churches ; her equitable tax laws, low rate of taxation, and 
freedom from oppressive public debt ; her excellent schools, and 
public schoo' system; her numerous universities and colleges; 
her wise exemption and liberal immigrant and alien laws; her hu- 
"mane public institutions; her total exemption from northers, 
grasshoppers, and many other ills which afflict the people of 
Texas and the Northwest; her pure wholesome water, and we 
find here, in a remarkable degree, all the conditions which go to 
make life comfortable and home happy. But Alabama is no 
Utopia — free from care and the necessity for labor. Here, as 
elsewhere, man must eat his bread in the* sweat of his brow. 
Still, with us, he will find more comforts and reap the fruit of his 
labor at an earlier day than on the wild, treeless plains of the 



297 

Northwest. It has been truthfully said, and the words have a 
peculiar application to Alabama, that the South freed from the 
influence of slavery, and gradually recovering from the effects of 
the civil war, is rising up to a future which necessarily must far 
exceed its highest prosperity in former days; and the South deci- 
dedly has the advantages of climate, soil, and natural wealth 
almost intact, which few of the Northern and Western States 
share. The London Times, the great expositor of English views, 
confirmed this statement when in its leader of June 23d, 1876, it 
said, speaking of the progress of the Southern States, that unless 
this progress should be unexpectedly checked, the calamities of 
the civil war will be quickly obliterated by the rising tide of a 
prosperity almost without parallel, even in American experience. 
The people of Alabama are noted for their warm hearted 
hospitality, and stand with outstretched arms to welcome to her 
inviting fields the enterprising and industrious, extending to all a 
cordial invitation to come and make this their home. 



Appendix. 



THE GEEAT SEAL OF ALABAMA. 




ALABAMA STATE GOYEENMEI^T. 

Executive Department.* 

Rufus W. Cobb Governor. 

William W. Screws Secretary of State. 

Willis Brewer „... ...Auditor. 

Isaac H. Vincent... Treasurer. 

LeRoy F, Box Superintendent of Education. 

Henry C. Tompkins Attorney General. 

Judicial Department. 

SUPREME COURT. 

Robert C. Brickell Chief Justice. 

Amos R. Manning Associate Justice. 

iSeorge W. Stone , '. " " 



CHAIfOELLORS. 

Northern Division ...H. C. Speake Huntsville. 

Eastern " N. S. Graham Tuskegee. 

Middle " Charles Turner Selma. 

Southern " .„, Huriosco Austill ' Mobile. 

Western " A. W. Dillard Demopolis. 



♦Elected August, 1878 : Go into office, November, 1878. 



299 

CIRCUIT JUDGES. 

First Judicial Circuit G. H. Craig Selma. 

Second " " Jas. Q. Smith Montgomery. 

Third " " Wm. S. Mudd Birmingham. 

Fourth " " Wm. B. Wood Florence. 

Fifth " " Lewis Wyeth Guntersville. 

Sixth " " Harry T. Toulmin Mobile. 

Seventh '• " Luther R. Smith , Butler. 

Eighth " " Henry D. Clayton Clayton. 

Ninth " " Jas. E. Cobb Tuskegee. 

Tenth " " .....John Henderson Talladega. 

Eleventh" " John K. Henry Greenville. 

Twelfth " " W. L. Whitlock....... Gadsden. 

Legislative Department. 

SENATE.* ■ 
JfAMB. POSTOFFICE. DISTRICT. 

Banks, G. R Tallassee, Elmore County Tenth. 

Brooks, L, E Mobile, Mobile County Thirty-third. 

Buell, David Greenville, Butler County Seventeenth. 

Burford, P. D. Camden, Wilcox County... Twenty-second. 

Bush; Jno. W..... Marion, Perry County Eighteenth. 

Chambers, Wm. H......Oswichee, Russell County Twenty-ninth. 

Clanton, Jerome Eutaw, Greene County Fourteenth. 

Clarke, Wm. E Demopolis, Marengo County Twentieth. 

Cunningham, J. L Gadsden, Etowah County Sixth. 

Dobbs, L. A Fort Payne, De Kalb County ...Fifth. 

Duncan, P. N Talladega, Talladega County. ...Eighth. 

Gordan, A. C Abbeville, Henry County.. Twenty-third. 

Hargrove, A. C Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County..E!eventh. 

Harrison, Geo. P., Jr.. .Auburn, Lee County Twenty -seventh. 

Howel, W. P Oak Level, Cleburne County Seventh. 

Johnson, W. L.... Nixburg, Coosa County Fifteenth. 

Little, W. G., Jr Livingston, Sumter County Thirty-first. 

Musgrove, Wm. A Palo, Fayette County. ... ..........Twelfth. 

McCurdy, W. D Hayneville, Lowndes County.. .Sixteenth. 

Padgett, J. A Rutledge, Crenshaw County .....Twenty-fifth. 

Randolph, B,. ......=. Blount Springs, Blount County ..Third. 

Rather, Jno. D Tuscumbia, Colbert County Second. 

Rice, Francisco ....New Market, Madison County.. Fourth. 

Robinson, J. J,. LaFayette, Chambers County ...Ninth. 

Roquemord, Jno. D.„...Eufaula, Barbour County Twenty-fourth. 

Rosamond, W. C Jasper, Walker County Thirteenth. 

Satterfield, J. R .Selma, Dallas County Thirtieth. 

Seay, Thos Greensboro, Hale County Thirty-second. 

Thornton, E. S DeSotoville, Clarke County Nineteenth. 

Torrey, R. C Claiborne, Monroe County. .......Twenty-first. 

Troy, D. 8 Montgomery, Montgomery Co..Twenty-eighth. 

Wilson, J. A ...Union Springs, Bullock County.Twenty-sixth. 

Wood, W. J Florence, Lauderdale County... First. 

*The Senators from the odd -numbered Districts, except the IStli and lltli, hold 
over from the Session of 1876-7: Those from the 13th and 17th, and the even-num,- 
bered Districts, were elected August 5, 1878, 



300 

HOUSE OF KBPRESENTATIVBS.* 

NAME. ■ COUNTY. POSTOPFICB. 

Akers, M. T Marion Pikeville. 

Alexander, W. J Cleburne Edwardsville. 

Armstrong, N. W 1... Chambers Fredonia. 

Akers, J. J ..Jefferson Warrior. 

Ash, Geo. W...... ......St. Clair Branchville. 

Bailey, P. W ..Dale ..Ozark. 

Barnett, W. H. Pike Troy. 

Betts, E. C Madison Huntsville. 

Billingslea, W. C Dallas Selma. 

Boger, Daniel Lawrence Moulton. 

Bowdon, F. W Talladega Talladega. 

Boykin, Frank, Jr Dallas Selma. 

Bradford, T. H Marengo Linden. 

Brooks, A. L Macon Tuskeege. 

Caldwell, G ...Bullock Enon. 

Carson, H. A Lowndes Hayneville. 

Campbell, G. D Jackson Scottsboro. 

Clarke, Eli Conecuh Evergreen. 

Clarke, J. M Lawrence Moulton. 

Clark, G. B... Mobile Mobile. 

Cochran, W. G Tuscaloosa.. Tuscaloosa. 

Cooper, Jesse D Bibb Centreville. 

Clopton, David Montgomery Montgomery. 

Critcher, James Marshall Guntersville. 

Crutcher, Wm. R ...Limestone Athens. 

Culver, I. F Bullock... Union Springs. 

Curtis, Benjamin H Winston ....Houston. 

Dark, O. P Tallapoosa Alexander City. 

Davidson, A. S Blount Blount Springs. 

Davis, L. R .....Limestone Athens. 

Dawson, W. R Tallapoosa Camp Hill. 

Dolive, Louis Baldwin Daphne. 

English, George Wilcox Camden. 

Evans, James Jackson., Stevenson. 

Fletcher, A. S Madison Huntsville. 

Fouville. J. C Crenshaw ...Rutledge. 

Forshee, J. W Chilton Maplesville. 

.Foster, J. A .....Barbour Clayton. 

Foster, W. F .......Macon Tuskegee. 

Fuller, J. A Perry Perryville. 

Gilbert, R. F DeKalb Collinsville. 

Griggs, A. W. Chambers West Point, Ga. 

Hand, M. W Greene Eutaw. 

Heacock, J. W Talladega Talladega. 

Hearn, J. J Randolph Wedowee. 

Hughes, R. S Butler Greenville, 

Hutto, J. C Walker Jasper. 

* Elected August 5th, 1878. 



301 

NAME. COtnSTTT. POSTOFFICE. 

Htiey, B. M..... Perry Marion. 

Jack, W. P Franklin , Russelville. 

James, Gilliam Hale Greensboro. 

Jolley, W. J Mobile Mobile. 

Kennedy, J. M Clay , Ashland. 

Kirkpatrick, M. L Montgomery Montgomery. 

Lawrence, Jno Cherokee Centre. 

Lawson, W. H Montgomery Montgomery. 

Lee, J. J Pickens Pickensville. 

Legg, G...... .....Fayette....... Fayette C. H. 

Lowther, Wm Lee.. Opelika. 

Lyons, Marcus Escambia Pollard. 

Martin, L. W Russell Seales Station. 

Massey, Chas. F Barbour.... Clayton. 

McCain, Thos. S Butler Greenville. 

McCarron, Neill Mobile Mobile. 

McDougald, W. A Russell Columbus, Ga. 

Mclllwain, John H...... Dallas Selma. 

Molette, W. P Dallas Selma. 

Muldon, S. C Mobile Mobile. 

Nettles, W. T Monroe Monroeville. 

Nicholson, Jno. C Montgomery Montgomery. 

Owens, A. H Pike Troy. 

Patton, Thos. J Greene Eutaw. 

Pearson, W. G. B Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa. 

Portis, B. P Sumter York. 

Pitts, J. W Shelby Columbiana. 

Purifoy, Jno. W Wilcox .....Snow Hill. 

Ralls, J. P Etowah ....Gadsden. 

Ramsey, J. R Sumter Ramsey's Station. 

Register, Jno. P Geneva , Geneva C. H. 

Riley, M Covington Andalusia. 

Reynolds, R. J.. , Henry Abbeville. 

Rushing, H. M Coffee Elba. 

Saunders, L H .Lamar Vernon. 

Saunders, Geo. C ....Madison... Huntsville. 

Sharp, H. A.... .....Morgan Decatur. 

Sheid, J. M .......Calhoun... Jacksonville. 

Smith, W. J.. ....Autauga Prattville. 

Smith, H. L Lowndes Burkville. 

Smith, Jno. L Mobile..... Mobile. 

Steele, J. A Colbert Tuscumbia. 

Stribling, W. C Washington St. Stephens. 

Taylor, Geo. W.. Choctaw ., Butler. 

Taylor, B. F „ Lauderdale.... Centre Star. 

Thompson, D. J... Coosa Mt. Olive. 

Walker, Wm. A.... Jefferson .Birmingham. 

Waller, Chas. E Hale..... ,. Greensboro. 

Willett, E. D.......... ..Pickens... ..Carrollton. 



2Q2 

NAME. COUNTT. POSTOFPICE. 

Williams, Thos Elmore Wetumpka. 

Winn, Frank N Clarke 

Wood, J. N Lee Opelika. 

Woolf, Henry A Marengo Linden. 

U. S. SENATORS FROM ALABAMA. 

John T. Morgan Selma Dallas County. 

George E. Spencer Decatur Morgan County. 

ALABAMA CONGRESSMEN.* 

Ist District — Jas. T. Jones„ Demopolis Marengo County. 

2d District— Hilary A Herbert Mongomery Montgomery County. 

3d District — Jere N. Williams Clayton Barbour County. 

4tli District — Chaa. M. Shelley Selma Dallas County. 

6th District — Rob't F. Ligon Tuskegee Macon County. 

6th District— Goldsmith W. Hewitt.Birmingham..., Jefferson County. 

7th District— Wm. H. Forney Jacksonville Calhoun County. 

8th District — Wm. W. Garth. Huntsville Madison County. 

FEDERAL JUDGES IN ALABAMA. 

William B. Woods. Atlanta, Ga , Circuit Judge. 

John Bruce Montgomery, Ala District Judge. 

U. S. LAND OFFICERS AND DISTRICTS IN ALABAMA. 

MOBILE DISTRICT. 

C. T. Stearns Mobile Register. 

James A. Somerville Mobile Receiver. 

MONTGOMERY DISTRICT. 

Pelham J. Anderson Montgomery Register. 

Paul J. Stroback Montgomery,.... ....Receiver. 

HUNTSVILLE DISTRICT, 

John M. Cross Huntsville Register. 

Peter J. Kaufman Huntsville Receiver. 

CUSTOMS DISTRICTS AND COLLECTORS IN ALABAMA. 

flobertT, Smith Mobile Collector. 

L. O, Towusley Mobile Deputy Collector. 

Gustavus Horton Mobile Special Deputy Collector. 

U. S. INTERNAL REVENUE COLLECTORS AND DISTRICTS 
IN ALABAMA. 

Louis H. Mayer Mobile First District. 

James T. Rapier ..,. Montgomery Second District. 

* Elected NoYember 5, 1876. 



303 



CONSULS AND CONSULATES IN ALABAMA. 



Austria and Hungary. .William F. Stoutz... Mobile. 

Belgium W. J. Peckham " 

Brazil A.J. Ingersoll " 

France C. Pillichody •* 

Germany Julius Buttner " 

Great Britain F. J. Cridland " 

Italy G. Aite " 

Mexico C. LeBaron... " 

Netherlands W.J. Ledyard " 

Russia J. Weber " 

Spain C. LeBaron " 

Sweden and Norway.. ..J. R. Edwards " 



.Consul. 

Acting Vice Consul. 

Vice Consul. 

Vice Consul. 

Consul. 

Consul. 

Consul. 

Vice Consul. 

Vice Consul. 

Vice Consul. 

Vice Consul. 

Vice Consul. 



OOUIJ^TIES AKD COUNTY SEATS IN ALABAMA. 



County. County Seat. 

Autauga Prattville. 

Baldwin Daphne 

Barbour Clayton. 

Bibb Centreville. 

Blount Blountsville. 

Bullock Union Springs. 

Butler Greenville. 

Calhoun Jacksonville. 

Chambers LaFayette. 

Cherokee Centre. - 

Chilton Clanton 

Choctaw Butler. 

Clarke Grove Hill 

Clay Ashland. 

Cleburne Edwardsville. 

Coffee Elba. 

Colbert Tuscumbia. 

Conecuh Evergreen. 

Coosa Rockford. 

Covington Andalusia. 

Crenshaw Rutledge. 

Cullman Cullman. 

Dale Ozark. 

Dallas Selma, 

DeKalb Lebanon. 

Elmore Wetumpka. 

Escambia Pollard. 

Etowah Gadsden. 

Fayette Fayette. 

Franklin Frankfort. 

Greene Eutaw. 

Geneva Geneva. 

Hale Greensboro. 



County. County Secit. 

Henry .Abbeville. 

Jackso n Scottsboro. 

Jefferson .....Birmingham. 

Lamar Vernon. 

Lauderdale Florence. 

Limestone Athens. 

Lawrence Moulton. 

Lee...... Opelika. 

Lowndes Hayneville. 

Macon Tuskegee. 

Madison Huntsville. 

Marengo Linden. 

Marion Pikeville. 

Marshall Guntersville. 

Mobile Mobile. 

Monroe. Monroeville. 

Montgomery Montgomery. 

Morgan Decatur. 

Perry Marion. 

Pickens Carrollton. 

Pike Troy. 

Randolph Wedowee. 

Russell ...Seale. 

Shelby......... Columbiana. 

St. Clair. Ashville. 

Sumter Livingston. 

Talladega Talladega. 

Tallapoosa.... Dadeville. 

Tuscaloosa..... Tuscaloosa. 

Walker Jasper. 

Washington. St. Stephens. 

Wilcox , Camden 

Winston....... Houston. 



304 



NEWSPAPEES IN ALABAMA. 

Abbeville, Henry County Register. Livingston" Journal. 

Ashville, Southern ^gis. Marion Commonwealth. 

Athens Post. Mobile Register. 

Bangor, Broad Axe. Mobile News. 

Birmingham ^Endependent. Mobile Journal of Commerce. 

Birmingham Iron Age. Monroeville Journal. 

Blountsville, Blount County News. Montevallo, Shelby Guide. 

Butler News. Montgomery Advertiser. 

Camden, Wilcox Vindicator. Montgomery, Advance. 

Carrollton, West Alabamian. Montgomery, Southern Plantation. 

Centre, Cherokee Advertiser. Moulton Advertiser. 

Clayton Courier. Notasulga Universalist Herald. 

Columbiana, Shelby Sentinel. Opelika Observer. 

Courtland Recorder. Opelika Times. 

Cullman, Alabama Tribune. Oxford Tribune. 

Cullman, Pioneer. Ozark, Southern Star. 

Cullman. Southern Immigrant. Prattville, Autauga Citizen. 

Dadeville, Head Light and News. Prattville, Southern Signal, 

Decatur News. Roanoke, Randolph County News. 

Demopolis, Marengo News-Journal. Scottsboro, Alabama Herald. 

Eufaula, Times and News. Scottsboro Citizen. 

Eutaw, Whig and Observer. Seale, Russell Register. 

Evergreen, Conecuh Star. Selma Times. 

Fayette Gazette. Selma, Alabama Baptist. 

Florence Gazette. Selma, Southern Argus. 

Gadsden Times. Springville Enterprise. 

Gainesville Dispatch. Talladega, Alabama Templar. 

Good water, Coosa News, Talladega, Our Mountain Home. 

Greensboro, Alabama Beacon. Talladega, Reporter & Watchtow^r. 

Greensboro, Southern Watchman. Troy Enquirer. 

Greenville Advocate. Troy Messenger. 

Grove Hill, Clarke Co. Democrat. Tuscaloosa Gazette. 

Gulf Citizen, Mobile. Tuscaloosa Times, 

Hayneville Examiner. Tuscumbia, North Alabamian. 

Huntsville Advocate. Tuskegee, Macon Mail. 

Huntsville Democrat. Tuskegee News. 

Huntsville Independent. Union Springs, Bullock Co. Guide. 

Jacksonville Republican. Union Springs, Herald. 

Jasper, Mountain Eagle. Vernon Pioneer. 

LaFayette Clipper. Wetumpka Times. 

TABLE 

Showing the population of Alabama at each decennial Census since its 
admission into the Union. 

Census. Whites. Free Colored. Slaves. Total. 

1820 85,451 571 41,879 127,901 

1830 190,406 1,572 117,549 309,527 

1840 335 185 2,039 253,532 590,756 

1850 , .....426,514 2,265 342,844 771,623 

1860 526,271 2,690 435,080 964,041 

1870 521,384 475,608 996,992 



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HISTOEIES ASJ) BOOKS DESOEIPTIYE OF ALABAMA. 

History of Alabama. By A. J, Pickett. 2 vols. 

History of Alabama. By Willis Brewer. 1 vol. 

Romantic Passages in Southwestern History. By A. B. Meek. 

Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi. By Joseph G. Baldwin. 

Public Men in Alabama. By Wm. Garrett. 1 vol. 

Alabama Manual. By Joseph Hodgson. 1 vol. 

Alabama. By John T. Milner. 1 vol. 

The Hill Country of Alabama. By Alabama Great Southern Rail- 

road Company. 1 vol. 
Geological Reports. By *M. Tuomey, first State Geologist. 
Geological Reports. By Eugene E. Smith, present State Geologist. 
Reports of the Commissioner of Industrial Resources.* 
*Oflace now abollslied. 



ALTITUDES IK ALABAMA.* 



Name. Altitude in feet, f 

Athens 709 

Auburn 850 

Birmingham 602 

Blount Springs 434 

Blue Mountain Station 816 

Brandon.. 877 

Cullman , 802 

Decatur... 577 

Eureka, or Oxmoor 960 

Greenville 450 

Huntsville 692 

Jacksonville 653 

LaFayette 865 



Name. Altitude in feef.j- 

Milner's 840 

Mobile 10 

Montgomery 162 

Opelika .'. 812 

Selma 147 

Shelby Springs 554 

Springville 708 

State Line (S., R. &. D. R. R.). 930 

Sulphur Springs 888 

Talladega 586 

Tuscaloosa 162 

Valley Head 1058 



* This list Is only partial. It was impossible to make it more complete . 
t Base line, Gulf of Mexico. 



Distances in miles by shortest Post Routes, between the two principal 
cities of Alabama, and seven of the larger cities of the United States : 

^ TO 1 



FEOM 



Mobile 

Montgomery. 



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140 


1,471 


1,235 


1,146 


945 


1,232 


320 


1,293 


1,057 


968 


1,007 


858 



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3,363 
2,941 



3^7 
COE^GEESSIONAL DISTEIOTS. * f 

First District.— Clarke, Choctaw, Marengo, Mobile, Monroe, and Wanh- 

ington. 
Second District.—Baldwin, Butler, Conecuh, Crenshaw, Covington, Es- 
cambia, Montgomery, and Pike. 
Third District. — Barbour, Bullock, Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Lee, and 

Russell. 
Fourth District. — Dallas, Hale, Lowndes, Perry, and Wilcox. 
Fifth District. — Autauga, Bibb, Chambers, Chilton, Coosa, Clay, Elmore, 

Macon, and Tallapoosa, 
Sixth District. — Fayette, Greene, Jefferson, Marion, Pickens, Lamar, 

Sumter, Tuscaloosa, Walker, and Winston. 
Seventh District. — Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, DeKalb, 

Etowah, Marshall, Randolph, St. Clair, Shelby, and 

Talladega. 
Eighth District.— Colbert, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, 

Limestone, Madison, and Morgan. 

*ror tlie State Senatorial Districts, see ante. Constitution of Alabama, Art. IX, Sec. 1. 

fit was originally intended to insert in this connection, the Judicial Circuits, and 
Chancery Divisions of the State; hut as the General Assembly to convene in 1878, will 
doubtless make many and important changes in these, it was deemed best to omit 
them. 



/ TABLE OE UNITED STATES MONEY. 

The value of this money increases by tens, which makes it very simple 
and easy to reckon ; and hence accounts are kept in dollars and cents, in 
this State. 

10 mills m. make 1 cent, e. , 

10 cents *' , 1 dime, d. 

10 dimes " 1 dollar, $. 

10 dollars " 1 eagle, E. 

The mill is not a coin, and is only used in counting. 



VALUE OF FOEEIGN SILVEE AND GOLD COINS. 

An English Shilling ..............$ 24 cents. 

Crown 1.20 

" Sovereign 4.84 

Pound 4.84 

" Guinea 5.00 

A franc of France 19 

A thaler of Germany 67 

A Spanish doubloon 16.00 

A South American doubloon 15.60 

Four shillings and two pence sterling......... 1.00 



3o8 



ABBREVIATION OF NAMES OF STATES 
AND TEEEITOEIES. 



Ala Alabama. 

Alaska... Alaska Ter. 

Ariz Arizona Ter. 

Ark Arkansas. 

Cal California. 

Colo Colorado. 

Conn Connecticut. 

Dak ....Dakota Ter. 

Del , .....Delaware. 

D. C Dist. of Columbia. 

Fla Florida, 

Ga Georgia. 

Idaho Idaho Ter. 

Ill Illinois. 

Ind ; Indiana. 

Ind. T... Indian Ter. 

Iowa Iowa. 

Kans .....Kansas. 

Ky Kentucky. 

La Louisiana. 

Me Maine. 

Md..... Maryland. 

Mass Massachusetts. 

Mich Michigan. 

Minn Minnesota. 



Miss Mississippi. 

Mo Missouri. 

Mont Montana Ter. 

Nebr Nebraska. 

Nev Nevada. 

N. H New Hampshire. 

N. J New Jersey. 

N. Mex New Mexico Ter. 

N. Y New York. 

N. C... North Carolina. 

Ohio Ohio. 

Oreg Oregon. 

Pa Pennsylvania. 

R. I Rhode Island. 

S. C South Carolina. 

Tenn Tennessee. 

Tex Texas. 

Utah Utah Ter. 

Vt Vermont. 

Va Virginia. 

Wash... Washington Ter. 

W. Va West Virginia. 

Wis. Wisconsin. 

Wyo.... .Wyoming Ter. 



WEIGHTS OF GEAIN AND PEODUOE PEE BUSHEL. 



Article. Pounds. 

Wheat 60 

Rye „. 66 

Corn, shelled , 56 

Corn, in ear, new 76 

Corn, in ear, old ...73 

Oats , 32 

Barley 48 

Beans .....60 

Beans (Castor). .....46 

Bran ............24 

Buckwheat 52 

Corn Meal (bolted) 46 

Corn Meal (unbolted) 48 

Dried Apples....... 24 

Btone Coal 80 

Plastering Hair 7 

Barley Malt.... ..,.,. ........34 



Article. Pounds. 

Onions 57 

Dried Peaches 33 

Irish Potatoes.... 60 

Sweet Potatoes... 60 

Peas (split). , 60 

Turnips 55 

Blue Grass Seed 10 

Clover Seed.... 60 

Flax Seed .........56 

Hemp Seed 44 

Timothy Seed 45 

Coarse Salt 50 

Fine Salt 60 

Small Hominy ...". 50 

Pindars or Goobers ..24 

Cotton Seed , .....33 



309 

MISOELLANEOFS WEIGHTS, MEASUEES, AND 
DISTANCES. 

A ton of Coal is 2240 pounds ; but retailers give only 2000 pounds. 

A commercial bale of Cotton is 400 pounds. 

A pack of Wool is 240 pounds. 

A barrel of Flour weighs 220 pounds, gross. 

" Pork " 350 " " 

" Bice " 600 " " 

" Molasses" 500 " " 

" Liquor " 400 " " 

A firkin of Butter " 56 " 
A box 24x16 inches, 22 inches deep, contains 1 barrel. 

" 16x16^ " 8 " " " 1 bushel. 

" 8x Si " 8 " " " 1 peck. 

" 4x 4 " ^ " " " i gallon. 

" 4x 4 " 2i " " " 1 quart. 

A circular measure, 18J inches in diameter, and 8 inches deep, contains 

one bushel, dry measure. 
231 cubic inches is 1 gallon, liquid measure. 
268 4-5" " 1 " dry " 

2150 2-5 " " 1 bushel " " 

A ton of round timber is 40 feet ; of square timber 45 cubic feet. 
A barrel of unslacked lime contains 3 bushels. 
An English or Statute mile is 1760 yards, or 5280 feet. 
A league is 3 miles. 
A fathom is 6 feet. 
A cubit is 2 feet. 
A great cubit is 11 feet. 
A pace is 3 feet. 

A hand in horse measure is 4 inches. 
A span is lOf inches. 
A palm is 3 inches. 

An acre is 4840 square yards, or 69 yards, 1 foot, 8J inches each way. 
A square mile is 1760 yards each way, containing 640 acres. 
To lay off a square acre of ground, measure 209 feet on each side, and you 
will have a square acre, within an inch. 



210 
EIYEE LANDINGS IN ALABAMA. 



THE MOBILE RIVER. 



Landings. 



Dist.* Landings. 



Dist. Landings. 



Dist. 



Mobile 

Meaher's Wharf 3 

Live Oak 14 

Dubroca 18 

Storms 18 

21 Mile Bluff. 21 

Dupree's 22 

24 Mile Bend 24 

27 Mile Bluff. 27 

28 Mile Bluff 28 



Lyon's 

Mrs. Acker's Wyd 

P. Dillard's 

Seymour's Bluff 

Chastang's Bluff..... 
Sarah Marshall's... 
Roper's Woodyard. 

Cedar Creek 

R. Chapman 

Promised Land 



30 M'th Tensas River 43 

31 Cooper & Backers... 44 
31 Arsenal Wharf or \ ^^ 
33 Ft. Stoddard / *^ 

37 Simison's W'dy'd... 46 

38 Frank Davids 47 

38 Simison's Gin 48 

39 John M. Dabney's.. 49 
39 H'd Mobile RiVer... 50 
41 



*A11 the distances are in Statute Miles, and as the Rivers run. 



THE ALABAMA RIVER. 



Landings. Dist.'^' 

Webb's 50 

James Godbold's.... 54 

MeDaniel's 55 

J. Booth, Jr 57 

Pierce's 60 

Atkinson's 61 

Mrs. Flaut's 61 J 

Steadham's' 64 

Montgomery Hill... 65 
Mrs. J. Booths...... 66 

R. 8. Moore's or) ^q 

L. J. Wilson's.. / ^" 
Woodcock's or \ oq 

Wilkin's > ^^ 

Cut-Off. 70 

S. P. Gray's 70J 

T. J. Booth's,.,. 71 

G. Hall 72 

T. Booth's Gin 72^^ 

Silvers' Woodyard. 73 

Dr. Belt's 74 

Singleton's 75 

Dick Williams' 75 

Joe Silver's Gin. . .. 76 

R. McDonald's 78 

Mrs. Slaughter's.... 78J 

Harry Davis 80 

Stedham's W'dy'd.. 81 

Dr. Holmes 81J 

Joe Davis 8l| 

Sam Leggett 82 

Richard G. Davis... 82 

Sibley's. 85 

Mobley's 85 

Mrs. H. G. Davis ) q^ 

or Ben Davis... J 

James Earle's 88 

Frank Earle's 89 

*rrom MobUe. 



Landings. Dist. 

McDavid's W'dy'd. 90 

Dean's 90 

Driesbach's 90 

Sam Kelvins 91 

J.C.Deas or Prince's 92 

Tait's Shoals 93 

R. H. Moore 94 

Stark's Woodyard.. 95 
J. Boyle's W'dyard 98 
Mrs. Mathewson's..l01 
Choctaw Bluff.. ...... 104 

Rice 105 

R. W.Smith's 106 

Price's or Pott's 108 

Mount Pleasant 109 

Frank James' orl-,,^ 

R. D.James'.... ;^^" 
Kellum'sorHow-) -.-.o 

ard's ;^^^ 

Mrs. Erwin's 115 

Mrs. N. Jones' .116 

Caiter's 119 

Gainestown 120 

Eureka 121 

California W'dy'd..l22 

O. S. Jewett's 122J 

Ethridge's 124 

J. S. Lambert's 124 

Smith's or French'sl25 

T. C. English's 125 

Jas. Bryant's 125 

Denard's Bluff. 125J 

English's Woody'dl26 

J. P. FJynn's 126 

John English 126J 

Lovett's 127 

Geo. Foster's 128 

Hollinger's 129 



Landings. Dist. 

John Slaughter's) ioq, 

or Friar's \ ^^^^ 

John Slaughters 68.130 
J. Marshall's low'r.l31 

Dr. Lindsay's 131 

Dale's Ferry 131| 

Marshall's Gin 132 

G. W. File's 138 

Lorenzo James 134 

James Hearin's 135 

R. H. Flynn's 136 

Cedar Creek 137 

Sam Forwards 137J 

Mrs. N. Harris 138 

Wm. McAlpin's....l40 

Gosport 142 

Judge Gibbons' 143 

Scott's 144 

Portis Landing... ..145 

Claiborne 146 

Wm. J. Hearin's...l46j 

Scott's Ferry 147 

Mouth Lime Stone..l47j 

Joe Barefield's 148 

Lisbon 150 

D. Lees lower 151 

T. H. Williams 152 

J. B. Williams 153 

Lee's 154 

M. Stablers .154^ 

Hamilton's 156 

Marshall's Upper... 156 

Presnall's 157 

Doctor Maiben's 157^ 

Jim Stabler's 158 

McCoy's Woody'd..l58J 
Wm. Henderson's..l59 
A.Williams lowr es 160 



3" 



THE ALABAMA EIVER.— Continued. 



Landings. 



Dist. 



A.Williams up e&wl61 

Arthur Foster's. 163 

M.Cobbs' 164 

A, J. Kidd's 164 

Liegget's 166 

Davis' Ferry 

J. G. Bradley's... . 

Hugh Bradley 

Jno. McLeods low'r 
Johnson's W'dy'd.. 
MeDuffee's 

E. P. Morrisett's 

Stablers Gin 

Wm. Bragg's 

F. S. Morrisett's 

Blacks , 

Bell's Landing 

J. B. Powell's 

Ed. King's 

David Packer's 

Wm. King's W'y'd 

Shoo Fly 

Slip Up 

Nettle's Woodyard. 
Carstaphney'sWyd 

K. W. Wells' 

Kennedy's...., 

Peeble's Woody'd .. 
Lower Peach Tree.. 

McLeod's 

McLeod's Ferry 

C. S. Powe 

Dr. Mcintosh's 

T. A. Powe's 

Mrs. Mathew's Ldg 
Mrs. Bryan's Gin. . 

Yellow Bluff. 

Tait's Lower Ldg... 
F. G. Fox-^orth> 

or McNeill's > 

A.K.Smith's Wyd. 

C. Dear's 

S.B.Mathew's upr.. 

Ross 

L. W. Mason's. 

Tait's middle 

Black's Bluff 

Tait's Ferry 

Felix Tait's upper.. 
Geo. GuUett's Gin..200 

Eade's Ferry 200^ 

Coal Bluff. 200^ 

Dr. Erwiu's Low-) 

er Landing > 

Gullett's Gin. 202 

Burford's 203 

Robert Tait's 203J 

Holley's 204^ 

Raiford's ...205l 



69 
69 
69* 

70 

71 
71 

7U 
72J 
73 
74 

75 

77 

78| 

79 

79 

79 

80 

m 

81 

81i 

83 

83 

84 

86 

85i 



87J 

90 

91 

92 

93 

94 

94J 

96 

96 

97 

98 

98 

99 



201 



Landings. Dist. 

Dears Port... 206 

J. J. LoDgmire's 206^ 

Walnut Bluff. 206i 

F. K. Beck's 208^ 

Erwin's upper. 209 

Curtis' .....209 

Watson's 211 

Clifton .213^ 

Osage ,. 215 

Mendenhali's... 216 

W, T. Mathews'... .21 7 

Pegues 217J 

Geo. 8trothers........218 

Pledgers 219 

David Bethea's 220 

McMillan's.... 221 

Midwav lower... 221 

Midway 222 

Hopkin's 222 

Mattie's Landing... 222* 

Miller's Ferry 224* 

Prairie Bluff .....225 

D. Smith's .225J 

H. L. Hobbs ......227 

McGuire's 228 

Mixon's..... ....229 

C. Satterwhite's 231 

Park's... ...232 

Young's 233 

W. W. Irby's 234 

T. K. Becks 234J 

Canton 236 

Magnolia 236| 

Peru 237 

W. K. Beck's 238 

Mrs. Ellis.,... 240 

Jno. A. Jones 241 

Hillsboro ...... 241J 

Bridgeport 242 

A. Jones' Ferry 243 

Wilcox 243J 

Carson's ........244 

Cochron 245 

Hurricane Bluff 246 

Pettiway's ....246 

Est. Oliver's........ ...249 

C. P. L'by's..... ......250 

A. M. Sprague's 251 

Irby's Woodyard ...252 

Lexington's 253 

Days 254 

Golsan's.. .............. ,255 

H. H. Oliver.. ..255 

Moseley's W'dy'd. ..256 
McMillan's W'y'd..257 
John U. Molett's...257 

Boykins...... 258 

Portland 1260 

M. J. Keenan's 262 



Landings. Dist, 

W. P. Molett's 263 

Providence 263J 

Elm Bluff. 265 

Coleman's 266 

W. L. Davis'.... 269 

Nunnalee's ....271 

A. Davis' orWood's.276 
Lenoir's Woodyard. 277 

White Bluff. 279 

Chamblers 280 

King's Landing 282 

T. M. Mathews ......286 

J. E. Mathews 287 

Cahaba,... 289 

Cahaba Point.. ..289 

Dukes 289 

Dunham's ..291 

Sam. Hunter's... 292 

Hatcher's Bluff.... ..295 

Mrs. Givan's ..296 

Cleveland's 297 

Monk's 299 

King's Bend 300 

T. J. Cade's .....30U 

J. S. Hunter's 303 

E. S. Jones'.... 304 

Selma 308 

Tipton's.. ., 309 

Kornegay's 311 

Tarver's ....314 

Weaver'sWoody'rd 316 

Frederick's 317 

Cunningham's 321 

Mrs Bat. Smith's....322 

V. H. Gardner 325 

Perry's.. 326 

Lamar's , 326 

Loves 326^ 

Steel's Mill ....328 

Durant's Bend........329J 

John M. Minter 332 

Morgan's... .....332 

G. L. Stewart......... 333 

Wood's lower... 335 

Ellsberrees 336 

Benton 340 

Fort Williamson 342^ 

Kooxville ........343 

Cambell'sWoody'd.344 

D. A. Steele's 345 

Gresham's 346 

Wood's upper 347 

Haralson's 347 

Jones' Bluff. 348 

L. Tyus' .'........349 

Steel's Gin 350 

Pauline 351 

House Bluff. 852 

L. P. Edward's 354 



312 



THE ALABAMA EI VEE. —Continued. 



Landings. Dist. 

Sam 8toudemire's...355 

W. B. Hall's 355 

Dodson's ...356 

Cypress Creek ...358 

Dutch Bend 358 

Brinson's 359 

Autauga 363 

Bonnell's Ferry 365 

Est.W. O. Nixon. ..366 

Vernon..,.. 366 

Nuns 367 

Alexander's 369 

DeBardeleben 370 

Newport 372 

C. B. Eobinson's . .372 
Tatum's 374 



Landings. Dist. 

Gen. Fair's .375 

W. D. Smith's 376 

Tom Jones 377 

Tallawassee.. ......... .378 

Graves' ...379 

Mrs. Popes ,,. 380 

C. Gunter's , 381 

Brevard's.. 383 

Stone's ..384 

Washington. 388 

Cottage Bluff...... ...389 

Mrs. Turner's. ....... .391 

Esperanza 392 

Carpenter's W'j 'd..393 

Whetstones 394 

H. Eose's... 396 



Landings. Dist. 

Gause's 399 

Montgomery 403 

Boiling Hall's 407 

A. B. Jackson's 415 

Coosawda 420 

Eeeve's Gin 423 

Loftin's.... 424 

C. M. Jackson's 425 

Fitzpatrick's 426 

Cain's 427 

Bozeman's ...430 

Elmore's 431 

Griffin's 435 

Wetumpka 437 



THE TOMBIGBEE EIVEE. 



Landings. Dist. 

Head of Mobile Eiv. 50 
Dickens' 52 ] 
Calvert's 52 1 ^^nna- 
Greer's 63^, f "^^^ ^^^ 
Buford's53y 

Hollinger's 56^ 

M. P. Johnson's 57| 

B. Meaher's L'ding 58 
B. Meaher'sPl'n.... 59 

Burk's 60 

M.P.Johnson's Pl'n 60 

Hill's Gin 63 

Wickwire's Gin 63 

Wick wire's] Mem- _ 

Eush's....... }■ intosh's 65 

Vaughan's.j ^1"^- 
Woolsey's Gin........ 67 

Three Elvers.....;.... 69 

Three Elver Pl'n ... 69 

Slade's 70 

Bull Pen.. 75 

Frank Payne's....... 79 

Batcheller's 83 

Oven Bluff. 85 

Sawyer's Gin.. 86 

Stalling's Shed ...... 88 

Salt Works 90 

E. C. Payne 92 

Harrell's..... 93 

Hunter's 95 

Mounger's 96 

Bob Harwell's 98 

Carney's Bluff. 100 

Austin's ...100 

Geo. S. Gaines 101 

Daffin's or Marshl's 104 

Bassett's 105 

E.Y. Bowling'eWd 106 



Landings. Dist. 

Jeffrie's or Singlet's 107 
Mouth Bassetts Ck..l07^ 
Black well's or E.) ,f^e 

S. Tinker's .| ^^^ 

DuBose Plantat'n...l09 

Jackson 110 

Prince's Lower Lg.llO 

Parker's Ill 

A. M. Wing's lllj 

Dubose's Woody'd.;114 
Mouth Steve Creek. 114^ 

Prince's Upper 115 

Luck Wainright's..ll5 

Woodward's 116 

St. Elmo 117 

Stonewall.,... 117J 

Mouth Jackson C'k 118 

Cowan's.... 119 

St. Stephen's 120 

SmithMalone'sGin 122 

Beckham's 123 

L. J. Wilson 125 

Fred Pevey's 127 

Dr. Coleman's 127 

Atchison's Gin 128 

Blount's Gin 129 

Hatchatigbee 130 

Buena Vista 131 

Boykin's 132 

Buck Williams' 132 

Malone'sGin 133 

Cato's..... 134 

Mrs. Bass' 134 

Christmas ....135 

Scott or Lampley's.l36 
Malone's W'dy'd...l37 

Pine Tree 137^ 

H. E. Williams'... .138 



Landings. Dist. 
Williams' Gin 138^ 

B. A. Clan tons 139 

Eocks Bluff. 139| 

Coffeeville 140 

Idalia UOJ 

James Cox's Wyd..l41 

Secession 142 

Hill's or Old Bladonl43 
Thornton's lower. ..143 

Midway 144 

Short's or'Hunter's.l45 
Eli Thornton's 147 

C. May's Woody'd..l48 

Poe's 149 

Mrs. Turner's 149 

Mouth of Oakteppal50 

Philans..... 151 

Turner's Shoals 152 

Elliott's 152 

Maeons 152 

Osage .152^ 

J. W. Thorn ton's.. 153 
Seller's Woodyard..l53 

J. W. Hinsons 153^ 

J. J. Martin's 154 

Ferrel's 155 

Mitchell's W'dy'd..l55^ 

Magnolia 156 

Joe Cowans 156 

Cunningham's Ginl56 
Cunningham's w'd 156J 

T. Martin's 157 

Davis Bluff. 159 

Wood's Bluff 160 

Beach Bluff. 161 

A. M. Granger's 163 

Mccarty's Ferry. ...164f 
Cade Bend 167 



3^3 



THE TOMBIGBEE BIVER.— Continued. 



Landings. Dist. 

Campbell's Ldg 168 

John Pickens' 169 

Barney's lower 171 

Joe Mccarty's 173 

Magnolia Bluff. 175 

Democrat Bluff. 175J 

Mills' or Mouth) 
of Wahalak or \ 176 

Morisett J 

Tuscahoma .180 

B. L. Turner's 181 

Barney's upper 183 

Vinc'nt's orBarnes'185 

Gay 8 ...187 

A. Waters' 187 

Jacob Williams'... .187^ 

Lott's 189 

Nanafalia 191J 

J. B. Chaney's 191 

J. C. Barron ...192 

Cherokee ....193 

Mann's Landing.. ..195 

Beaver Creek ..196 

Murphy's Bluff, 197 



Landings. Dist. 

Tompkins' Bluff. ...197J 

Nahiola .........199 

Mrs. Kemp's 200 

Breckinridge's Gin 201^ 
Steiner's Landing..203 

Cetahoma 205 

Oak Chi Bluff. 206 

Poelnilz's .207 

N. Lewis 208 

J. L. Terrell 208^ 

Dr. Poelnitz's, Jr...209 

Remberts .....212 

Bickley's ....213 

McNeils .213 

Dr. H. Hildreth's...214J 

Bryant Burns 215 

Griffin's 216 

A. M. Lewis 217 

Besteder's 217 

Robinson's 218 

Chaney's upr Gin.. 219 
Marshall's W'y'd.. 220 

Croom's Shoals 221J 

Ciooms Landing. ..222| 



Landings. Dist. 

Black Bluff. 223 

Mrs. Donald's 223 

Hart's lower .....224 

Dean's 226 

Chaney's lower 226 

J. N. Hart's 226 

Moscow 227 

Vauter's 227 

W.T. Chaney's 228 

J. H. Woodward's..229 
Ellis' or Adams'.. ..232 

Barton's Bluff. 233 

Pace's ...234 

Simmons' ...235 

Smith's 237 

G. G. Lyons lower.237 

Malakoff 237 

Railroad Bridge 238 

McDowell's 239 

Russell's 239 

Prout's 239 

G. G. Lyon's upr... 240 
Demopolis lower. ^ 242 
Demopolis upper.]" 243 



THE LITTLE TOMBIGBEE RIVER.* 



Landings. 



Dist. Landings. 



Tutt's, from Mobile 246 

Hancock's 247 

Green's '. 249 

Mat. Taylor's 250 

Arringtons 250 

Cole's 255 

Rowe's.. 257 

T. Rowe's crib 259 

Brassfield's Gin 259^ 

Kirkpatrick's 259 

Forkland..... 260 

Hi:^h'sor E.Little's263 

Inge's 264^ 

Durden's Ferry 265 

Jack Pharis 265 

Borsbys or Puckets.266 
Pharis Gin or Pt. 1 naax 

Mingo 1 2^^* 

Muscle Shoals wyd 267J 

Charletons 268^ 

Spring Bluff. 270 

BluT Port 274 

Jackson or Morris'.276 

Cedar Bluff. 277 

Houston's 278^ 

P. Williams' 279 

Garrett's Mills 280 

Bragg's Bluff. 280 

Mrs. Phillips' 281 

Martan's Ferry 282 



Dist. 

Dial's ,...283 

McAlpin's 285 

Smaw's 286 

Hanna's. 287 

Weedon's 288 

Mitchell's 288^ 

Knight's 289 

Jones' Bluff 292 

Miller's Bluff. 295 

Hale's Gin 296 

Hay's Ferry 297 

Jehu Brown 299 

Tom s Bluff. 300 

Mixon's or Clay's. ..302 

Cook's 304 

Trussel's Ferry 306 

Croft's 307 

J. U. Brown's 308 

Bohannan's 309 

Jolly Woodyard 309J 

Bee's Nest 311 

Smith's 312 

Cherry Bluff. 313 

Collins 314 

Gainesville 315 

Hill's .....316 

Mouth of Noxubee.317 

Whitsitt's 318 

Smith's Ferry 320 

Dr. May's 320 



Landings. Dist. 

Mobley's 322 

Hick's 322J 

Est. of Carpenter's. 323 

Bracket's 323 

Mrs. Walker's 324 

Carpenter's 325 

Mrs. Taylor's low'r 325J 

Craig's Ferry ..325 

Mrs. Taylor's up'r...325A 

China Bluff. 326 

Clanton's Bluff. 326 

Hellow 327^ 

Warsaw 328 

Gresham's W'dy'd.330 
Hutton's Old Ferry330^ 

Jo. Little's Gin 332^ 

Hlbler's.... 332| 

Barnes' Gin ..333 

Childers' 334 

Bu.-ks 334J 

Hill's 335 

Conway's... 337 

Mouth of Sipsey... .340 

Vienna.. 343 

Cuba 344 

Halsey's 346 

Windham's 347 

Cat Fish Bend 349 

Thomas' orTrant-) q^- 
ham ; ^^^ 



*Mississippi Landtags included.j 



3H 

THE LITTLE TOMBIGBEE EIVER.— Continued. 



Landings. Dist. 

Summerville 359 

Newport 360 

Jim Clanton's 360 

Stone's Ferry 360 

Fairfield 361 

Hugh Windliam....362 

Hines' 362J 

Perkins' 363 

Crim's 365 

May's Mill 366 

Isaac Taylor's shed. 366 

Memphis..... 369 

Carroway's ,...370 

MeFadden's 372 

Ringgold's Bluff.. ..373 
Jackson's Ferry ....378 

Goors 378 

Holt's ,.379 

Nance's Ferry 380 

Pickensville 381 

Puliam's '.381J 

McLaran's 383 

Mouth of Coal Fire.384 

Pinkin Creek 384^ 

Albert Cox's Shed.. 388 



Landings. Dist. 

Lee's Gin 388J 

Petty 's Bluff. .389 

Blewett's shed 390 

Nashville 392 

Union Bluff... 393 

Mccarty's Bluff. ...394 

Harvey's Bluff.. 397 

Moore's Bluff. 399 

Hairston's 400 

Lindsay's Ferry . ..408 
Lownde8ville,........408 

Pinhook 409 

Mrs. Cox's W'yd..412 

Erwin's 413 

Butler's 415 

Neal's.. 418 

Law's 419 

Columbus, Miss 420 

Westport 421 

Malone'sCottonS'd 423 

Plymouth 426 

Barry's 430 

Burt's Gin 433 

Waverly 434 

Cox's Woodyard....438 



Landings. Dist. 

Collin's Woodyard.440 

Colbert's 443 

Barton's Ferry 443^ 

Parker's Bluff. 444 

Barton's 444 

Vinton's Ferry 445 

Hamilton's old 453 

Allen's or Tatum's.454 

Ogburne's 459 

Gore's 461 

Vera Cruz ..462 

Dan Willis 464 

Saund'rs' or Tayl's' 467 
Jenkins' Woody'd..467 

Lackays' 468 

N. Whitflelds' 469 

Strawhorns' 469 

Martin's Bluff 469 

Aberdeen, Miss 470 

Joe May's 473 

Parrsville 475 

Reynold's Bluff. 476 

John Thompson's..478 

Mullen's 479 

Cotton Gin Port. ...480 



THE BLACK WARRIOR RIVER. 



Landings. Dist. 

Demopolis, from) ^±0 

Mobile.... I ^^^ 

Glover's Ferry 246 

Garner's W'dy'd....248 

Wright's 251 

Factory 253 

Desha Smiths 255 

Rogeville 256 

Areola 258 

Log Woody ard 260 

Hatch's 263 

Lime Kiln 264 

A. J, Dunlap's 266 

Candy's 268 

May's 269 

Drake's.. 270 

Cherry Ridge, 271 

Little's 272 

' Arrington 275 

McDaniels 276 

Lake Bend 277 

Clemment's.. 279 

Hoicroft's 280 

Myree's Bluff. 281 

Port Royal 283 

Millwood 285 

Sam Duffey's 287 

Hines' 288 

Owens' 290 

F. Snedecor's 291 



Landings. Dist. 

Sam Cowin's 292 

Erie 293 

McAlpin's Ferry.. ..302 

Eastport 305 

Dobbins 307 

JennieWatt's Bluff 312 

Stephens' Bluff. 318 

Choctaw Bluff. 320 

Taylor's 321 

Forrest Bridge 322 

Jenning's Ferry 324 

Eutaw Landing.... ..325 

Finch's Ferry 328 

Sample's Bluff. ,329 

Brown's Bluff. 330 

Stave Bluff. 331 

Jack Collins' Wyd.332 

Chiles' Ferry 334 

Bartee's Bluff. 335 

Brodnaxs' W'y'd..335 

Merriwether's 336 

Z. Logan's 338 

Hickman's Bend.. 340 

Yellow Bluff. 341 

Leroy Logan's 342 

Logan's Bluff. 343 

H. Colvin's 345 

Eagle Bluff 347 

Morrow's 348 

P^rham's Gin 349 



Landings. Dist. 

Wilson's Bluff. 350 

White's Bluff. 355 

Steele's Bluff. 358 

Mike King's, or\„cQ 

Cutoff i"^^^ 

Battle's Gin.. 360 

Bissels 360 

Williford's.... ..360 

Mrs. Eddins' 360 

Mrs. Eddins' Gin...361 

Burton's 363 

Gray's 364 

Nick Prince's 365 

Burrows 366 

Mrs. Prince's 368 

John S. Beale's 368 

O. T. Prince's 370 

Rossers' Bluff. 370 

McCowin's Bluff.,..371 

Corbin's 371 

Vancleave's 372 

R. H. Foster's 373 

Big Sandy 374 

Dr. D. L. Foster's.. 375 

D. M. Farmers 376 

J, Collier Foster's..377 

Cunningham's 377 

King's Ferry 378 

Maxwell's 378 

Mrs. Jones' 379 



3^5 



THE BLACK WARRIOR RIVER.— Continued. 



Landings. Dist. 

Maxwell's Gin 381 

T. J. Hill's 382 

Eddins' 383 

Nelson's 383 

Wm. Lelands'c 384 

J. H. Foster's 385 

Bozeman's 386 

Woolsey's Bluff... ..387 

J. L. Foster's 388 

Dr. Manley's 390 

Foster's Ferry e&w393 



Landings. List. 

Gate's 394 

Mrs. A. Owen's 395 

R. Dunlap's 396 

Robinson's 398 

Sa'nder's Fe'ry e&w399 
L. M. Clemmens'...400 

Inge's Landing 400 

Mrs. Marr's, e side..401 
Mrs. Marr's Gin ws401 
R. H. Clemmens'...404 
Carson's Bluff. 406 



Landings. List. 

Dobbs' Landing.. . .408 
Mrs. Cochran's e&w408 

Perkins'.... 409 

Dr. Hullum's 410 

Craddoe's 410 

A. C. Hargrove 411 

Northport 412 

Tuscaloosa, 413 

Bridge , 413 



THE COOSA RIVER.* 



Landings. 



List. Landings. 



Dist. Landings. 



List. 



State Line 40 

Howells Cross ) g^ 

Roads ) 

Cedar Bluff 75 

Round Mountain... 80 



Dublin 85 

Centre 90 

Maple Grove 105 

Oak Hill 115 

Ball Play....... 122 



Coats Bend 131 

Turkey Town.... .....137 

Gadsden 155 

Greensport 185 



._^ *Distances from Rome, Georgia. Only Alabama Landings given. 

THE TENNESSEE RIVER.* 

Landings. List. Landings. Dist. Landings. Dist. 

Chickasaw 267 Cheathams Ferry. ..284 Kellar's 294 

Waterloo 269 Newport 284 Tuscumbia 295 

Colberts' Shoals.. ..277 Cane Creek... 286 Florence........ 300 

Houston's 277 Boddies..... .....287 M. & C.R.R.BridgeSOO 

Conner's... 278 Foster's 289 

Geor getown 28L Pride's .290 

' *Distanees from Paducali, Ky. , at Mouth of Tennessee River, 500 miles below Cin- 
cinati. The Muscle Shoals obstructions prevent the continuous navigation of this 
river from its mouth to Chattanooga. Only Alabama Landings given. 



THE TENNESSEE RIVER.* 



Landings. 



List. Landings. 



Dist. Landings. 



Dist. 



Bridgeport 60 

Big Oak 65 

Ridley's Ferry 67 

Cox's Mound 70 

Caperton's Ferry... 72 
Rudder's Landing.. 74 

McCoys... 75 

Coffeys 79 

Bellefonte 85 

Sublett's Ferry...... 87 

Hitches Ferry 91 

Martins Landing... 95 
Cheneys Landing... 96 

Pierces 100 

Gossip's Ferry 101 

Finney's Landing. 102 
Larkins Landing. .105 
Granthams Ldg....l07 

Cabbitts 108 

Grass 110 

Cowleys 113 

Romans 114 



McFarlane's 116 

Mannings 117 

Pine Island 119 

Laws... , 122 

Hodges 124 

Henry's 126 

Loveless... 128 

MeKee's 130 

Guntersville 132 

Bakers 133 

Shuts. 135 

Deposit 138 

Honey-Comb 139 

Fosters 142 

Coles 144 

Wash.. 147 

Hallowells 151 

Clarksville 155 

Bush's Landing 156 

Black's Landing.. .157 

Davidson's Ldg 160 

Churn's Landinsf...l63 



Whitesburg ....165 

Leman's Ferry ......171 

Waldaiis ......173 

Draper's Ferry 174 

Louis' Bluff .....176 

Lees' Landing. ...... 177 

Triana 181 

Watkin's Ferry 183 

Bluff City 185 

Brake's Branch 188 

Rock House 190 

Daney's Landing... 191 
Mouth Limestone..] 93 

Decatur ,...199 

Lucas' Ferry .........202 

Brown's Landing...211 
Garbrow's Landing214 

Milton's Bluff. 218 

Elk River 221 

Lamb's Ferry 227 



*Di3tance3 from Chattanooga. Only Alabama Landings given. 



31^ 



THE CHATTAHOOCHEE EIVER.* 



Landings. 



Dist. Landings. 



List. Landings. 



List. 



Fort Gadsen, Fla.. 15 Port Jackson 180 Eufaula 300 

Slough, or Cut Off.. 40 Bellvue.... 190 Florence 325 

lola 50 Haywood's 210 Jernigan 330 

Rieoe's Bluff 75 Neals.... 215 Blufftown.. 350 

Blountstown 85 Gordon 230 Banks 375 

Alain Bluff. 95 Columbia..... 245 Magruder's 375 

Ocheesee 130 Howard's 260 Columbus, Ga 390 

Chattahoochee 150 Fort Gaines 275 

Hawley's 170 Orho 285 

•Distances from AppalacMcola, Fla., and Landings not confined to Alabama. 



EAILEOAD STATIONS IN ALABAMA. 



THE ALABAMA CENTRAL RAILROAD. 



Stations. 



List.* Stations. 



List. Stations. 



List. 



Selma Uniontown 30 McDowell's 55 

Junction 14 Fawnsdale 35 Coatopa 66 

Vernon 18 Macon 42 Bennett's 73 

Brown's 22 Van Dorn , 46 Curl's 75 

Tayloe's 26 Demopolis 50 York 81 

^.^*AU tlie Eailroad Distances are in Statute Miles. 



THE ALABAMA GREAT SOUTHERN RAILROAD.* 



Stations. List. 

Chattanooga, Tenn 

Wauhatehie.; 6 

Morganville 12 

Trenton 18 

Rising Fawn 26 

Sulphur Springs... 31 

Valley Head 40 

Fort Payne 51 

iBrandon's 56 

Porterville 61 

Collinsville 65 

*Stations not confined to 



Stations. List. 

Greenwood 74 

Attalla 87 

Whitney 102 

Springville 115 

Trussville 129 

Irondale 137 

Birmingham 143 

Jonesboro 155 

Vance's 177 

Kennedale..... 191 

Tuscaloosa 198 

Alabama. 



Stations. List. 

Carthage 213 

Akron 223 

Eutaw 233 

Haysville 239 

Epp's 250 

Livingston... 259 

York 288 

Toomsuba 282 

Meridian, Miss 295 



THE EAST ALABAMA AND CINCINNATI RAILROAD. 



Stations. 
Opelika.. 
Junction , 



List. Stations. 
.. Lafayette. 



List, Stations. 
Buffalo.. 



List. 

.. 22 



317 



THE MEMPHIS AND CHAELE8T0N RAILROAD.* 



Stations. Dist. 

Memphis, Tenn 

Buntyn 5 

White's 9 

Germantown 15 

Bailey 20 

Collierville 24 

Rossville 31 

Moscow 39 

Somerville, {br'nch) 52 

LaGrange 49 

Grand Junction 62 

Saulsbury 57 

64 Mile Siding 64 

Middleton 69 

Pocahontas 74 



Stations. 



Dist. Stations. 



Dist. 



Big Hill 79 

Chewalla.. 84 

Corinth 93 

Burnsville 108 

I-u-ka 115 

Margerum 124 

Dickson 127 

Cherokee 129 

Barton 134 

Pride's 138 

Tuseumbia 145 

Leighton 156 

Town Creek 163 

Courtland 169 

Hillsboro 176 



Trinity 182 

Decatur 188 

Mooresville 195 

Madison 203 

Huntsville... 213 

Brownsboro 224 

Gurley's 230 

Paint Rock 234 

Woodville 238 

Larkinsville 249 

Scottsboro' 254 

Bellefonte 259 

Fackler's 265 

Stevenson 272 

Chattanooga, Tenn 310 



♦Stations not confined to Alabama. 

THE MISSISSIPPI, GAINESVILLE, AND TUSCALOOSA 
RAILROAD. 



Stations, Dist. Stations. 

Narkeeta, Miss McDowell's. 

Ramsey's 10 



Dist. Stations. Dist. 
.. 17 Gainesville, Ala 22 



THE MOBILE AND ALABAMA GRAND TRUNK RAILROAD. 

Stations. Dist. Stations. Dist. Stations. Dist, 
Mobile Mount Vernon 29 Bigbee Bridge 59 



Cleveland 9 Leona., 

Cold Creek 20 Sunflower., 



39 
50 



THE MOBILE AND GIRARD RAILROAD. 

Stations. Dist. Stations. Dist. Stations. Dist. 

Columbus, Ga Hurtville 35 Thomas, 64 

Girard 1 Guerrytown 40 Linwood 73 

Fort Mitchell 10 Suspension., 46 Troy, Ala 85 

Seale 20 Chunnenuggee 50 

Hatchechubbee 26 Union Spr ings 55 

THE MOBILE AND OHIO RAILROAD.* 



Stations. Dist. 

Mobile, Ala 

Toulminville 3 

Whistler 5 

Eight Mile 7 

Kushla 11 

Mauvilla 13 

Oak Grove 14 

Bell Air 16 

Chunchula 19 

Beaver Meadow 25 

Langdon 30 

Sidney 31 

Citronelle 33 

♦Stations not confined to 



Stations. Dist. 

Deer Park , 44 

Escawtapa 51 

Bienville 57 

State Line... 63 

Buckatuuna 71 

vVinchester 77 

Waynesboro, 82 

Red Bluff. 93 

Shubuta 96 

DeSoto 104 

Quituian 109 

Stonewall 117 

Enterprise 120 

Alabama. 



Stations. Dist. 

Okatibbee 130 

Meridian.. 135 

Marion 140 

Lockhart 147 

Lauderdale 153 

Tamola ' 158 

Nark6eta 164 

Ramsey 173 

Fulton...., 179 

Gainesville 185 

Sucarnochee 169 

Scooba.. 176 

Wahalak 182 



3i8 



THE MOBILE AND OHIO RAILROAD— Continued. 



Stations. Dist. 

Shuqulak 188 

Macon 198 

Brooksville 206 

Crawford 211 

Artesia..... 219 

Sessums' 223 

Starksville .224 

Cobbs 225 

Columbus, Miss 232 

Mayhew 224 

Tibbee 227 

West Point 232 

Muldon 241 

Aberdeen. .....250 

Prairie 246 

Egypt 254 



Stations. Dist. 

Okolona 261 

Shannon 269 

Verona 275 

Tupelo 279 

Saltillo..... 288 

GuntOiwn .....292 

Baldwin 297 

Booneville ....309 

Rienzi 317 

Corinth.... 329 

Ramer. 341 

Falcon .....346 

Bethel ....353 

McNary 359 

Henderson 369 

Pinson 375 



Stations. Dist. 

Jackson, Tenn 386 

Carroll 394 

Humboldt. 403 

Trenton 414 

Dyer 421 

Rutherford 426 

Kenton 431 

Crockett .438 

Troy 442 

Union City 447 

Jordan 452 

Cayce 456 

Moscow 459 

Clinton 464 

Columbus, Ky 472 



THE MOBILE AND MONTGOMERY RAILROAD, 



Stations. Dist. 

Blakely 13 

Tensas... 22 

Carpenter's 25 

Bay Minett 31 

Dyas Creek 38 

Perdido.. 43 

Williams 51 

Canoe 56 

Evans' Mill 60 

Miles' 64 



Stations. Dist. 

Pensacola Junction 69 

Pollard. 72 

Brewton 80 

Castleberry 94 

Sparta. 100 

Evergreen 105 

Gravella 110 

Garland ......119 

Georgianna 126 

Boiling 133 



Stations. Dist. 

Greenville 141 

Summit 146 

Fort Deposit 151 

Calhoun 157 

Givhan's.. 160 

Letohatchee. 164 

Gilmer's.... 169 

McGehee's 176 

Montgomery 186 



THE MONTGOMERY AND EUFAULA RAILROAD. 



Stations. Dist. 

Montgomery 

Oak Grove 10 

Perry's Mill 13 

Mathew's 21 



Stations, Dist. 

Mitchell's 25 

Fitzpatrick's 28 

Thompson's 33 

Union Springs 40 



Stations. Dist. 

Midway 54 

Spring Hill 62 

Batesviile 66 

Eufaula 81 



THE NASHVILLE, CHATTANOOGA, AND ST. LOUIS 
RAILROAD.* 



Stations. Dist. Stations. Dist. 

Bridgeport 29 Stevenson ... 39 



*Only Alabama Stations given. Distances from Chattanooga. 



THE NASHVILLE AND DECATUR RAILROAD.* 



Stations. Dist. Stations. Dist. Stations. Dist. 

State Line 96 McDonalds; 115 Decatur 123 

Elkmont 101 Harris.......! 120 

Athens 110 M. & C. Junction... 121 

■ *Distances from Nashville. Only Alabama Stations given. 



3^9 



THE NEW OELEANS AND MOBILE EAILEOAD * 



Stations. Dist. 

Mobile, Ala 

Webb's Landing 8 

Fowl River 13 

St. Elmo... 19 

Grand Bay 24 

Murray's 32 

East Pascagoula 40 

West Pascagoula.... 43 
Bellefontaine 50 



Stations. Dist. 

Ocean Springs 56 

Biloxi 60 

Harrison's 66 

Mississippi City 69 

Scott's 76 

Pass Christian , 82 

Bay St. Louis 88 

Toulme 95 

Grand Plain 100 



Stations. Dist. 

Lookout 104 

Rigolets 109 

Lake Catharine 114 

Chef Menteur 120 

Micheaud 127 

Lee 131 

Gentility 135 

New Orleans, La... 140 



♦stations not coniined to Alabama. 

THE NEW ORLEANS AND SELMA RAILROAD. 

Stations. Dist. Stations. Dist. Stations. Dist, 

Selma Saltmarsh 10 Tucker .18 

Hunter.... 6 Crawford 12J Martin 21 

Tait 8 Mitchell..... 15 

THE SAVANNAH AND MEMPHIS RAILROAD. 

Stations. Dist. Stations. Dist. Stations. Dist. 

Opelika.. Dadeville......... .30 Kellyton 53 

Gold Hill 10 Sturdevant 40 Goodwater 60 

Waverly 15 Salisbury 42 

Camp Hill 22 Alexander City...... 47 



THE SELMA, MARION, AND MEMPHIS RAILROAD. 

Stations. Dist. Stations. Dist. Stations. Dist. 

Greensboro Marion , ...21 Junction 35 

New-Berne 8 Hamburg 28 Selma 49 



THE SELMA, ROME, AND DALTON RAILROAD.* 



Stations. 



Dist. Stations. 



Dist. 



Selma, Ala 

Burnsville 9 

Plantersville 22 

Maplesville 32 

Randolph 40 

Ashby 49 

Brierfield. 51 

Montevallo... 55 

Calera 63 

Columbiana 72 

Wilsonville 82 



Childersburg ., 90 

Alpine........... 99 

Talladega .......109 

Munford 120 

Oxford ...130 

Annistori. 132 

Weaver's 139 

Jacksonville.... 145 

Patona 156 

Amberson 162 

Stonewall ,...,168 



Stations. Dist. 

Tecumseh 170 

Pryor's.. 173 

Cave Springs .180 

Rome, Ga 196 

Plainville 209 

Skelley's 215 

Sugar Valley 221 

Stark's 231 

Dalton, Ga .....236 



♦Stations not confined to Alabama. 

THE SOUTH AND NORTH ALABAMA RAILROAD. 

Stations. Dist. Stations. Dist. Stations. Dist. 

Montgomery Helena 78 Haneeville 139 

Elmore 11 Brock's 83 Phelan's 146 

Deatsville 18 Oxmoor 89 Milner's 151 

Mountain Creek 27 Birmingham 95 Wilhite's 159 

Cooper's 33 Boyle's 100 Hartsell's 169 

Lomax 43 Cunningham 108 Decatur 182 

Jemison 51 Warrior 119 

Calera 62 Blount Springs 129 



320 



THE VICK8BURG AND BRUNSWICK RAILROAD. 



Station. Dist. 
Eufaula 



Station. Dist, 
White Oak 5 



Station. Dist. 
Clayton 13 



THE WESTERN RAILROAD. 
Montgomery to West Point, Georgia. 



Stations. Dist. 

Montgomery, Ala... 

Mt. Meigs 14 

Brown's 19 

Shorters 23 

Cowles 30 



Montgomery 

Stone's 6 

Manack 12 



Dist. 

. 59 



Stations. Dist. Stations. 

Franklin 34 Auburn 

Cloughs 36 Opelika 66 

Chehaw 39 Cusseta 77 

Notasul^a 46 West Point, Ga 88 

Loachapoka 52 

Montgomery to Selma. 

Burke's 14 Benton 31 

Lowndesboro. 19 Wilson's 37 

Whitehall 25 Selma 50 



Opelilca to Columbus, Georgia. 



Opelika, Ala 

Yongsboro 3 



Salem...., 10 

Mott's 16 



Smith's 20 

Columbus, Ga 29 



3^1 
POSTAL EEGULATIONS AND EATES. 



RATES OF POSTAGE. 

Tlie following will show the rates of 
postage on letters; also the postage on 
newspapers, books, pamphlets and all 
mailable matter to and from all parts of 
the United States. 



Lbtteks . 



Letters to any part of the U. S. 

Drop Letters — that is, letters 
mailed in a city, to be deliv- 
ered elsewhere in the same 
city 

Postal Cards to any part of the 
U. S 

Registered letters are charged 
10 cents in addition to the 
pro per postage. 



Each>^oz. 



3 cts. 



2 cts. 
1 ct. each. 



Books, Transient Newspa- For every 
PEES, Mdse, etc. ounce, 

Books, circulars, and other 
printed matter (Including 
irarjsieni newspapers) , seeds, 
cuttings, bulbs, roots and 
scions. In packages not ex- 
ceeding 4 lbs. In weight, for 
each ounce orfraction thereof 

Merchandise or samples, in 
packages not exceeding 4 lbs . 
in weight, for each ounce or 
fraction thereof 

Newspapers, circulars and pe- 
riodicals not exceeding 2 oz. 
in weight, deposited for local 
delivery 

Exceeding 2 oz 



let. 



let. 



1 ct. each. 

2 cts. each 



All matter not prepaid at letter rates 
must be so wi-apped that it can be exam- 
ined without destroying the wi-apper, and 
must not contain any writing whatever, 
inside or outside, except the address; but 
samples may be numbered to correspond 
with the numbers in a descriptive letter. 

Glass, liquids, poisons, explosives and 
other dangerous matters are excluded. 

Postage on Newspapers, Magazines and 
Periodicals to Subscribers. 

The postage rates on all newspapers and 
periodical publications, mailed from a 
known office of publication or news agency 
and addressed to regular subscribers ov news 
agents, are as follows: 

On daily and weekly newspapers and 
periodical publications, and on newspa- 
pers and periodicals issued oftener than 
once a week, two [2] cents for each pound 
or fraction thereof. 

On newspapers and periodicals issued 
less frequently than once a week, three 
[3] cents per pound or fraction thereof. 

MONEY ORDERS. 

Rates on money orders in U. S.: Not 
exceeding $15, ten cents; over $15 to $30, 
fifteen cents; over $30 to $40, twenty 
cents; over $40 to $50, twenty-flve cents. 
No fraction of cents to be introduced. 

Money orders to Great Britain and 
Switzerland: Not exceeding $10, twenty- 
flve cents; over $10 to $20, fifty cents; 
over $20 to $30, seventy-five cents; over 
$30 to $40, one dollar; over $40 to $50, 
one dollar and twenty-five cents. 
; Money orders to Germany: Not exceed- 



ing $5, fifteen cents; over $5 to $10, 
twenty-five cents; over $10 to $20, fifty 
cents; over $20 to $30, seventy-five cents; 
over $30 to $40, one dollar; over $40 to 
$50, one dollar and twenty-five cents. 

Money orders to Canada: Not exceeding 
$10, twenty cents; over $10 to $20, forty 
cents; over $20 to $30, sixty cents; over 
$30 to $40, eighty cents; over $40 to $50, 
one dollar. 

POSTAGE TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 

The following table shows the rates of 
postage chaigeable on letters and news- 
papers to the foreign countries and places 
named in alphabetical order . 



Letters. 



Argentine Confederation . . 

Aspinwall 

Austria 

Australia , viaSanFrancisco 

do via England 

do via Brindisl 

Belgium 

Bermuda, via New York. . 

Brazil, direct 

Canada, Nova Scotia, New 

loundland, etc 

Cape of Good Hope 

Chill, Bolivia, Ecuador and 

Peru 

China, via Southampton 
Denmark, via England . 
Eastlndies.viaSanrracisco 
do via England 

France 

German States, via North 

German Union 

Great Britain and Ireland. . 

Holland 

HongKong, Canton, Amoy, 

Swatow & Foochow, via 

San Francisco 10 

Italy, via England *5 

Japan, via San Francisco. . 5 

Liberia *1 5 

Mexico 10 

Norway and Sweden *5 

Portugal , via Southampton *5 

Russia, via England *5 

Shanghai, ViaSanFrancisco 5 

Spain 5 

Switzerland *5 

Turkey, Syria, etc *5 

Venezuela, by Am 'n packet 10 
do by British do 25 

West Indies, direct 5 

do (British) via 

St. Thomas or Havana. . . 13 



Mot 
ezceedi'g 
X oiiaee. 
15 cts 

5 
*5 

5 
15 
19 
*5 

5 
10 

3 
*15 

17 
*15 

*5 

10 

*10 

5 

*5 
*5 
*5 



News- 
papers. 



*The asterisk (*) indicates that the postage may 
be paid or not, at the option ol sender of the letter. 

fThe newspaper postage to Canada is the same 
as that to any part of the United States. 

Postal Cards to Foreign Countries. 

American postal cards may be sent for 
an additional one-cent stamp to the follow- 
ing countries: Netherlands, Moldavia, 
Montenegro, Newfoundland, Norway, Po- 
land, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Servia, 
Spain, Sweden. Switzerland, Austria, Bel- 
gium, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Great 
Britain and Ireland, Greece, Greenland, 
Holland, France, Italy, Turkey and 
Wallachia. 



322 
POSTOFFIOES m ALABAMA * 



Italics, County Seats: f Money Order Offices. 



Name. County. 

■f Abbeville ...Henry. 

Aberfoil Bullock. 

Abernathy Clehurne. 

Acron Hale. 

Addison Tuscaloosa. 

Ala. Furnace Talladega. 

Alberton Coffee. 

Albertville Marshall. 

fAlexander City Tallapoosa. 

Alexandria Calhoun. 

Allen's Factory Marion. 

Allenton Wilcox. 

Allsborough Colbert. 

Almond Randolph. 

Alpine Talladega. 

\ Andalusia Covington- 
Anderson Creek Lauderdale. 

Andrews Institue....DeKa!b. 

fAnnistown Calhoun. 

Anro Lamar. 

Antioch.... Pickens, 

Apple Grove Morgan. 

Arbacoochee Cleburne. 

Arbor Vitse , Bullock. 

Arcadia.... Montgomery. 

Argo Jefferson. 

Argus Crenshaw. 

fArkadelphia Walker. 

Ashland Clay. 

Ashville ....St. Clair. 

Attala Etowah. 

^; Athens Limestone. 

fAuburn Lee. 

Aurora Etowah. 

Autauga ville Autauga. 

Avoca Lawrence. 

Ayres Jefferson. 

Baker's Hill Barbour. 

Ball Flat Cherokee. 

Ball Play Etowah. 

Balm Blount. 

Bangor Blount. 

Barlow Bend .Clarke. 

Barnes' Cross Roads Dale, 

Barnesville Marion. 

Barr's Mill Pike, 

Barton Colbert. 

Barton ville Walker. 

Basham's Gap Morgan. 

Bashi Clarke. 

Bass Station Jackson. 

Batesville Barbour. 

Baylor ,. Jefferson. 

Bay Minette ....Baldwin. 

Bayou LaBatre........ Mobile. 

Beach Grove Walk er. 

♦Compiled from tli§ JJnUtd States Official 



Name. County. 

Bean Rock Marshall. 

Bear Creek Randolph. 

Beaver Creek Dale. 

Beaver Dale Lamar. 

Beaverton Lamar. 

Beaver Valley St. Clair. 

Bellefonte Jackson. 

Belle Mina Limestone. 

Belleville... ........Conecuh. 

Bell Factory Madison. 

Bell's Landing Monroe. 

Bell's Mills Cleburne. 

Belmont ...........Sumter. 

Bennettsville Etowah. 

Benton Lowndes. 

Berkley.. Madison. 

Bermuda .....Conecuh. 

Bethany ., Pickens. 

Bethel,.... Wilcox. 

Beulah... Lee. 

Bevill's Store Choctaw. 

Bexar..... Marion. 

Bibb Mills fetation. ..Bibb. 

Bibb Springs Bibb. 

Bibbvilie Bibb. 

Big Coon Jackson. 

Big Creek Geneva. 

- ^Birmingham, Jefferson. 

Black Creek Jefferson. 

Black Oak DeKalb. 

Bladon Springs Choctaw. 

Blake's Ferry Randolph. 

Bloomfield Madison. 

Bloomingdale Chambers. 

fBlount Springs Blount. 

Blountsville Blount. 

Blue Lick Franklin. 

Blue Spring Morgan. 

Bluff City Morgan. 

Bluff f-pring Clay. 

Boiling Springs. .....Wilcox. 

Boley Springs Fayette. 

Boligee Greene. 

Boiling Butler. 

Bon Seeour Baldwin. 

Borden Springs Cleburne. 

Boyd Walker. 

Boyd's Switch........ .Jackson. 

Bradford Coosa. 

Bragg's Lowndes. 

Branchville St. Clair. 

Brandon,. DeKalb. 

Brewton Escambia. 

Bridgeport Jackson. 

Bridgeton Shelby. 

Bridgeville. Pic kens. 

Postal Guide, for October, 1878 i ~ 



3^3 



POSTOF FICE8 IN ALABAMA.— Continued. 



Name. County. 

Brock's Gap Jefferson. 

Broken Arrow St. Clair. 

Brooklyn.. Conecuh. 

Biooksville Blount. 

Broom town Cherokee. 

Brown's Dallas. 

Brownsborough Madison. 

Brown's Creek ..... ..Winston. 

Brownsville Jefferson. 

Bruce ville Bullock, 

Brundidge Pike. 

Bruner Calhoun. 

Brush Creek Perry, 

Buckeye Clay. 

Buck Horn Pike. 

Buck'^nort Fayette. 

Buena Vista Monroe. 

Buffalo Chambers. 

Bulger's Mills .Tallapoosa. 

Bull Mountain Marion. 

Bullock Crenshaw. 

Burkville .Lowndes. 

Burleson Franklin. 

Burnsville Dallas. 

Burnt Corn Monroe. 

Bursonville Monroe. 

Burton's Hill ..Greene. 

Butter ........Choctaw. 

Butler Springs Butler. 

Cahaba Dallas. 

Caldwell St. Clair. 

Calera Shelby. 

Calhoun Lowndes. 

Calhoun's Station. ...Bullock. 

Callierville Chilton. 

Cambridge, ...Dallas, 

^Camden..:. Wilcox. 

Camp Hill Tallapoosa. 

Camp Smith. Colbert. 

Camp Spring Lawrence. 

Cane Creek Calhoun. 

fCarrollton Pickens. 

Carter's Store..... Randolph. 

Carthage Hale. 

Castleberry Conecuh, 

Cave Spring Fayette. 

Cedar Bluff. ........Cherokee. 

Cedar Grove Jefferson. 

Cedar Plains..... Morgan, 

Cedar Ridge Marshall. 

Cedar Springs, Cherokee. 

Central Institute Elmore. 

Central Mills Dallas. 

iCentre Cherokee. 

Centre Hill .Limestone, 

Centre Star Lauderdale. 

CentrevUle Bibb. 

Chalk Bluff. Marion. 

Channahatchee Elmore. 



Name. County. 

Chapel Hill Chambers. 

Chepultepec Blount. 

Cherokee Colbert. 

Chestnut Creek Chilton. 

Chickasabogue Mobile. 

Chickasaw Colbert. 

Childersburgh Talladega. 

China Grove .....Pike. 

Chisenhall's Mills... Jackson. 

Choccolocco Calhoun; 

Choctaw Corner Clarke. 

Choctaw Bluff. Clarke. 

Christannia. Randolph, 

Chub Hill Franklin. 

Chulaflnnee Cleburne. 

Chunchula Mobile. 

Churubusco Franklin. 

Citronelle Mobile. 

Claiborne Monroe. 

Clanton Chilton. 

Clay Jefferson. 

Clayhatchee , Dale. 

Clay Hill Marengo. 

Claysville , ..Marshall. 

■\ Clayton Barbour, 

Clear Creek Chilton. 

Clear Creek Falls. ...Winston. 

Clement's Depot Tuscaloosa. 

Clifton Wilcox. 

Clinton Greene. 

Clintonville Coffee. 

Clio Barbour. 

Clopton.... Dale. 

Clough's Store Macon. 

Clutts ville.... Madison. 

Coal Creek Jefferson. 

Coal Fire ...Pickens. 

Coatopa Sumter. 

Coffee Springs... Geneva. 

CoffeeviJle. ,., Clarke. 

Coffey's Store ...Jackson. 

Cokerville... Monroe. 

Cold Water Cleburne. 

Coleta Clay. 

Collier Creek.. Winston. 

CoUinsvilie DeKalb. 

CoUirene Lowndes. 

Coioma Cherokee. 

Columbia ....Henry. 

■\ Columbiana.. Shelby. 

Commerce Conecuh. 

Concord.. Lawreuce. 

Connersville Jefferson. 

Coosada Station Elmore. 

Copper Mines.. Clay. 

Corn House Randolph. 

Cottoudale Tuscaloosa. 

Cotton Hill Barbour. 

Cotton's Store Elmore. 



324 



POSTOFPICES IN ALABAMA.— Continued. 



Name. County. 

Cotton Valley Macon. 

Cotton ville .Marshall, 

Cottonwood Henry. 

Courtland ....Lawrence. 

Covington Lauderdale. 

Cowle's Station Macon. 

Cowpena Tallapoosa. 

Cox's Mill Barbour. 

Coxville Etowah. 

Crane Hill Cullman. 

Crawford Russell. 

Crewsville .....Coosa. 

Crittenden's Mills. .Dale. 

Crooked Creek .Cullman. 

Cropwell St. Clair. 

fCross Plains ...Calhoun. 

Cross Trails .....Coffee. 

Crossville DeKalb. 

Cuba Station., Sumter. 

\ Cullman Cullman. 

Cureton's Bridge Henry. 

Curl's Station Sumter. 

Cusseta Chambers. 

\Dadeville Tallapoosa. 

Daleville ......Dale. 

Danville Morgan. 

Daphne... Baldwin. 

Davis Creek Fayette. 

Davis Cross Roads. .Cherokee. 

Daviston Tallapoosa. 

Davisville Calhoun. 

Day's Mills Bibb. 

fDayton Marengo. 

Dead Level Clarke. 

De Armersville Calhoun. 

■\ Decatur Morgan. 

Deer Head DeKalb. 

Deer Park Washington. 

Deetsville Elmore. 

Delta...... Clay. 

fDemopolis Marengo. 

Dent Walker. 

DeSotoville Choctaw. 

Detroit ..Lamar. 

Dick's Creek ..Macon. 

Dickson Colbert. 

Dixon's Springs. Marengo. 

Dodson ville Jackson, 

Dothen... Henry. 

Douglasville Escambia. 

Dry Cove Jackson. 

Dublin.............. ..Fayette. 

Duck Springs.... Etowah. 

Dudleyviile Tallapoosa. 

Dumas' Store Wilcox. 

Earle Jefferson. 

Easonville ...St. Clair. 

Easta Roga Talladega. 

Echo Dale. 



Name. County. 

Eden St. Clair. 

Edwardsville Cleburne. 

Elamville Barbour. 

Elba , Coffee. 

Eldridge Walker. 

Elizabeth Coffee. 

Elkmont. Limestone. 

Elmore Elmore. 

Ely ton Jefferson. 

Emuckfaw Tallapoosa. 

Enon Bullock. 

Enterprise Coffee. 

Epps Station Sumter. 

Equality Coosa. 

Escatawpa Washington. 

Estill's Fork Jaeksojl. 

fEufaula ..........Barbour. 

Eureka Talladega. 

■\Eutaw Greene. 

{Evergreen Conecuh. 

Fackler Jackson. 

Fairfield.-. Covington. 

Fairview St. Clair. 

Falkville Morgan. 

Farmersville Lowndes. 

Fatama Wilcox. 

Faunsdale Marengo. 

Fayette C. II. Fayette. 

Fayettville Talladega. 

Fernvale Tuscaloosa. 

Ferryville St. Clair. 

Fish Pond TallapooSa. 

Fitzpatrick's Bullock. 

Flat Rock Clay. 

Fiinn's Mill Hale. 

Flint Hill Clay. 

Flora Bullock. 

fElorenee Lauderdale. 

Floy DeKalb. 

■ Forest Home Butler. 

Forkland Greene. 

Fort Bluff Morgan. 

Fort Deposit Lowndes. 

Fort Mitchell Russell. 

Fort Payne DeKalb. 

Foster's"! Tuscaloosa. 

Fox Creek Randolph. 

Francisco Jackson. 

Franconia Pickens. 

Frankfort Franklin. 

Fredonia ....Chambers. 

Friendship Marshall. 

■\Oadsden Etowah. 

Gainestown Clarke. 

fGainesville ..Sumter. 

Gandy's Cove.. Morgan. 

Garden Pickens. 

Garden City Blount. 

Garland Butler. 



3^ 

P08TOFFICE8 IN ALABAMA.— Continued. 



Name. Count;!/. 

Garrison Point Walker. 

Garth Jackson. 

Gaston Sumter. 

Gaylesville Cherokee. 

Gay's Landing Marengo, 

Geneva.. Geneva. 

Georgiana .Butler. 

Germaoia Calhoun. 

Gibsonville Clay. 

Gilbertsborough .Limestone. 

Glen Allen Fayette. 

Glennville Barbour. 

Glover's Ferry ....Jefferson. 

Gold Hill Lee. 

Gold Mine. ..Marion. 

Goldville Tallapoosa. 

Good Hope Elmore. 

Good Springs... Limestone. 

Good Water Coosa. 

Gordo ,.. Pickens. 

Gordon Henry. 

Gordonsville Lowndes. 

Goshen Hill Pike. 

Gosport Clarke. 

Grafton Henry. 

Grand Bay Mobile. 

Grantley Cleburne. 

Grantville Cherokee. 

Gravella Conecuh. 

Gravelly Spring Lauderdale. 

Gray's Chapel Jackson. 

Greenbrier Limestone. 

Green Grove Madison. 

Green Hill Lauderdale. 

Green Pond Bibb. 

t Oreensborough Hale. 

Greeosport St. Clair. 

Green Springs Hale. 

fGh-eenviUe Butler. 

Greenwood Etowah. 

Grove Cottage Perry, 

Grove Hill Clarke. 

Grove Oak DeKalb. 

Guerryton Bullock. 

Gum Pond Lawrence. 

Gum Spring Blount. 

Guntersville Marshall. 

Gurleysville Madison. 

Hackney ville Tallapoosa. 

Haden's ....Madison. 

Haleborough Hale. 

Haley's Marion. 

Hamburgh Perry. 

Hampden Marengo. 

Hanby's Mills Blount. 

Hance ville Blount. 

Handy Fayette. " 

Hanover Coosa. 

Harlan Clay. 



Name. County. 

Harmonius Jackson. 

Harpersville Shelby. 

Harris Barbour. 

Harrisburgh Bibb. 

Harris Station Limestone. 

Hartsell's Morgan. 

Hatchechubbee Russell. 

Havana Hale. 

Hawkinsville Barbour. 

Haw Ridge Dale. 

Hayes' Tuscaloosa. 

Hayes' Store Madison. 

Hayneville Lowndes. 

Haysville Greene. 

Hazel Green Madison. 

Headland Henry. 

fHelena .Shelby. 

Helicon Crenshaw. 

Henderson Pike. 

Hendrick Blount. 

Henrysvilie Marshall. 

Hewitt Walker, 

Hickman's Tuscaloosa. 

Hickory Flat Chambers. 

High Falls Geneva. 

Highland Shelby. 

High Shoals Randolph. 

Hightower Cleburne. 

Hillabee Clay. 

Hillian's Store.... Marshall. 

Hilliardsvilie Henry. 

Hillsborough Lawrence. 

Hoboken Marengo. 

Hookes' Bluff.. Etowah. 

Holly Grove ....Walker. 

Holly Tree Jackson. 

Honoraville.... Crenshaw. 

Hooper's Mills Cleburne. 

Hope Hull Montgomery. 

Houston .Winston. 

Howell's Cross R'ds Cherokee. 

Hull.... Tuscaloosa. 

jHuntsville. Madison. 

Hurricane Bayou. ...Baldwin. 

Hurtvilie Russell. 

Idaho...... Clay. 

Ider DeKalb. 

Ingleside Limestone. 

Ireland Hill Marion. 

Ironville Perry. 

Island Home Tallapoosa. 

Isney Choctaw. 

Iwana Coosa. 

Jackson Clarke. 

Jackson's Gap Tallapoosa. 

\ Jacksonville Calhoun. 

Jamison Chilton. 

Jasper Walker. 

Jay villa Conecuh. 



3^^ 



iPOSTOFFICES IN ALABAMA.— Continued. 



Name. County. 

Jefferson Marengo. 

Jefferson Mines Jefferson. 

Jena Tuscaloosa. 

Jenkins Calhoun. 

Jericho Perry. 

Jernigan Russell. 

Jewell Lamar. 

Jonesborough Jefferson. 

Jones' Chapel Cullman. 

Jones' Cross Roads-.Tallapoosa. 

Kansas ....Walker. 

Kelly's Creek 8t Clair.. 

Kelly ton Coosa. 

Kemp's Creek Cleburne. 

Kempsville Monroe. 

Kennamer Cove Marshall. 

Keysburgh... Etowah. 

Kings .Barbour. 

Kings Landing Dallas. 

Kingston.... Autauga. 

Kingville Lamar. 

Kinlock Lawrence. 

Kirby's Creek Jackson. 

Kirk's Grove Cherokee. 

Knoxville Greene. 

Kowaliga Elmore. 

Kymulga Talladega. 

Lacey's Spring Morgan. 

Ladiga Calhoun. 

\LaFayette Chambers. 

Lake View Covington. 

Lamar Randolph. 

Lamberta Baldwin. 

Landersville ...Lawrence. 

Lane's Mills Winston. 

Langston Jackson. 

LaPlace Macon. 

Larissa Winston. 

Larkin's Fork Jackson. 

Larkinsville Jackson. 

Lawrence Cove Morgan. 

Lawrence ville Henry. 

Lebanon DeKaib. 

Leesburgh Cherokee. 

Leighton Colbert. 

Leled Lane Tuscaloosa. 

Leon Crenshaw. 

Letohatchee Lowndes. 

Level Road Randolph. 

Lewis Shelby. 

Lewis' Station Escambia. 

Lexington Lauderdale. 

Lincoln Talladega. 

^Linden Marengo. 

Lineburgh Pickens. 

Lineville Clay. 

Lin wood Pike. 

Lisbon Jefferson. 

Little Oak ...Pike. 



Name. County. 

Littlesville Winston. 

Little Warrior Blount. 

L vely Russell. 

Live Oak Crenshaw. 

^Livingston..: Sumter. 

fLoachapoka Lee. 

Lomax Chilton. 

Long Island Jackson. 

Longview Shelby. 

Looxapalila Lamar. 

Loraine Coosa. 

Lot , Marshall. 

Louica Randolph. 

. Louisville Barbour. 

Lower Peach Tree... Wilcox. 

Lowndesborough Lowndes. 

Luther's Store Marengo. 

McCalla Jefferson. 

McConnell's Tuscaloosa. 

Mcintosh's Bluff Washington. 

McKinley r Marengo. 

McKnight's ..Chambers. 

MacoQ Station Hale. 

Madison Cross R'ds. Madison. 

Madison Station Madison. 

Magnolia Marengo. 

Magnolia Plan tat'n. Baldwin. 

Mahan DeKaib. 

Manniugham Butler. 

Maple Grove Cherokee. 

Maplesville Chilton. 

Marble Valley Coosa. 

Marcumville Tuscaloosa. 

^Marion Perry. 

Marion Junction .Dallas. 

Marshall Calhoun. 

Martin's Cross R'ds.Calhoun. 

Martin's Station. Dallas. 

Marvyn Russell. 

Mathews ...Montgomery. 

Maynard's Cove Jackson. 

Maysville Madison. 

Mechanicsville Lee. 

Mellow Valley Clay. 

Melton's Mills Tallapoosa. 

Meltousville Marshall. 

Memphis, Pickens. 

Meridian ville Madison. 

Middleton Walker. 

Midway Bullock. 

Miller's Stand Winston. 

Millport Lamar. 

Millry Washington. 

Milltown Chambers. 

Milner .....Randolph. 

Milo Pike. 

Minter... Dallas. 

Mitchell's Station. ..Bullock. 
^Mobile..... ....Mobile. 



327 



P08T0FFICES IN ALABAMA.— Continued. 



Name. County. 

Monroeville Monroe. 

Mont Calm Fayette. 

Monterey Butler. 

fMontevallo Shelby. 

{Montgomery* Montgomery. 

Moore's Bridge Tuscaloosa. 

Mooresville Limestone. 

Morganburgb...., Morgan. 

Morgan Spring Perry. 

Morgan ville Lowudes. 

Morris Jefferson. 

Morrowville Dallas. 

Morvin Clarke. 

Moscow Lamar. 

Moss Side Marengo. 

Mott'sMill Lee. 

\Moulton Lawrence. 

Mountain Creek Chilton. 

Mountain Home Lawrence. 

Mount Andrew Barbour. 

Mount Carmel Montgomery. 

Mount Hebron Greene. 

Mount Hilliard Bullock. 

Mount Hope Lawrence. 

Mount Ida Crenshaw. 

Mount Level Bullock. 

Mount Lookout St. Clair. 

Mount Meigs Montgomery. 

Mount Olive .Coosa. 

Mount Pinson Jefferson. 

Mount Pleasant. ......Monroe. 

Mount Polk Calhoun. 

Mount Roszell. Limestone. 

Mount Sterling Choctaw. 

Mount Vernon Mobile. 

Mount Willing Lowndes. 

Mulberry Autauga. 

Munford Talladega. 

Murphree's Valley... Blount. 

Musgrove DeKalb. 

Mush Creek Dallas. 

Nahiola Choctaw. 

Nanafalia Marengo. 

Nectar Blount. 

Nelsonville Franklin. 

Nesmith Cullman. 

Nettleborough Clarke. 

Newbern .....Hale. 

Newburgh Franklin. 

New Castle Jefferson. 

New Hope Madison. 

New Lexington Tuscaloosa. 

fNew Market Madi§on. 

New Marrs Bibb. 

New Moon Cherokee. 

New Providence .....Crenshaw. 

New River Fayette. 

New Site,.., Tallapoosa. 

*8tate Capital. 



Name. County. 

Newton Dale. 

Newton ville.... Fayette. 

New Topia Barbour. 

Newton Academy... Monroe. 

Nicholson's Gap DeKalb. 

Nicholson's Store... Choctaw. 

Nixburgh Coosa. 

North Creek ..Fayette. 

Northport Tuscaloosa. 

North River Tuscaloosa. 

Notasulga... Macon. 

Oakfuskee Cleburne. 

Oak Grove Perry. 

Oak Hill .....;... ..Etowah. 

Oak Land Lauderdale. 

Oak Level. .....Cleburne. 

Oakley Montgomery. 

Oak Lone .....Cleburne. 

Oakmulgee. Perry. 

Oak Ridge... Jefferson. 

Oak ville. Lawrence. 

Oaky Streak ....Butler. 

Octagon Marengo. 

Odenville St. Clair. 

Ogee Blount. 

Olaville.... ..Limestone. 

Old Spring Marengo. 

Oleander Marshall. 

Olio St. Clair. 

Olmsted Station. .....Tuscaloosa. 

Olney Pickens. 

Olustee Creek Pike. 

Omaha Randolph. 

fOpelika Lee. 

Oregon Jefferson. 

Oregonia.. .Tuscaloosa. 

Orion ...Pike. 

Orrville Dallas. 

Osanippa Chambers. 

Oswichee Russell. 

Otho ....Henry. 

Oto Talladega. 

Owen's Cross R'ds.. Madison. 

fOxford Calhoun. 

Oxmoor , .Jefferson. 

f Ozark Dale. 

Paint Rock Jackson. 

Palestine Cleburne. 

Palmetto Pickens. 

Palo Fayette. 

Park's Store Jackson. 

Partridge Jefferson. 

Pearce's Mills Marion. 

Pea Ridge DeKalb. 

Pea River... Barbour. 

Pearson's Mills Madison. 

Peek's Hill Calhoun. 

Pelham Shelby. 

Perdido......... ,.... Baldwin. 



328 



POSTOFFICES IN ALABAMA.— Continued. 



Name. County. 

Perdido Station. .c... Baldwin. 

Perdue Hill Monroe. 

Perote Bullock. 

Perryville Perry. 

Pettusville Limestone. 

Phipps Hale. 

Pickensville Pickens. 

Pigeon Creek.. Butler. 

Pike Road Montgomery. 

Pikeville..... ........Marion. 

Pilgrim's Rest Fayette. 

Pinckneyville ..Clay. 

Pine Apple... vVilcox. 

Pine Forest ..;..St. Clair. 

Pine Hill.. Wilcox. 

Pine Level Montgomery. 

Pine Springs Lamar, 

Pine Tueky..... Perry. 

Pineville Marengo. 

Piano Cherokee. 

Plantersville .....Dallas. 

Pleasant Gap Cherokee. 

Pleasant Grove Pickens. 

Pleasant Hill Dallas. 

Pleasant Ridge Greene. 

Pleasant Site Franklin. 

Plevna Madison. 

Point Clear Baldwin. 

Pollard , Escambia. 

Pondville Bibb. 

Poplar Ridge Madison. 

Portersville DeKalb. 

Portland Dallas. 

Pottersville.. Pike. 

Prairie Bluff. Wilcox. 

■\PrattviUe Autauga. 

Pride's Station Colbert. 

Princeton Jackson. 

Propell Shelby. 

Providence Pickens. 

Pushmataha Choctaw. 

Rabbit Town Calhoun. 

Radfordsville Perry. 

Raif Branch Montgomery. 

Ramer Montgomery. 

Ramsey Sumter. 

Randolph.... Bibb. 

Rawhide.... Lauderdale. 

Red Apple ..Marshall. 

Red Bud Etowah. 

Red Hill Marshall. 

Red Level Covington. 

Reeder's Mill Barbour. 

Reform Pickens. 

Rehoboth Wilcox. 

Reid's Gap Walker. 

Richmond Dallas. 

Ringgold Cherokee. 

Rising Sun Walker. 



Name. County. 

River Bend ...Bibb. 

River Mills Dale. 

Roanoke. ...Randolph. 

Robbins' Cross R'ds.Jefferson. 

Rock Creek Colbert. 

Rockdale Randolph. 

Bockford Coosa. 

Rock Mills ......Randolph. 

Rocky Mount Clay. 

Rocky Plains Winston. 

Rodentown DeKalb. 

Rogersvilie. Lauderdale. 

Rort e Covington. 

Romulus Tuscaloosa. 

Rosebud .....Wilcox. 

Rose Hill Covington. 

Rosewood Cleburne. 

Round Mountain. ...Cherokee. 

Round Pond., St. Clair. 

Rural ...1 Clarke. 

Russell ville Franklin. 

Rutledge Crenshaw. ^ 

Ryan Creek. ..^ Cullman. 

St. Clair Lowndes. 

St. Elmo Mobile. 

Saint's Store Colbert. 

St. Stephens, Washington. 

Salem Lee. 

Sal Soda Crenshaw. 

Saluda Lamar. 

Sand Lick Colbert. 

Sand Mountain DeKalb. 

Saud Rock Cherokee. 

Sand Tuck Elmore. 

Sandy Ridge Lowndes. 

Santa Jackson. 

Sapps' Cross Road8..Blount. 

Saville Crenshaw. 

Sawyerville ...Hale. 

fScottsborough Jackson. 

Scott's Station Perry. 

Scottsville Bibb. 

SeaWs Station Russell. 

Seaton Talladega. 

Sedan Wilcox. 

^Selma ..Dallas. 

Sepulga Conecuh. 

Shackleville Butler. 

Sharon ...Chambers. 

Sheffield Fayette. 

Shelby Iron Works..8helby. 

Sherman Sumter. 

Shiloh Marengo. 

Shinbone Clay. 

Shirley Covington. 

Shoal Creek Cleburne. 

Shorter's Depot Macon. 

Shortersville Henry. 

Shottsville Marion, 



1 3^9 

P08T0FFICES IN ALABAMA.— Continued. 



Name. County. 

Shulough..... Walker. 

Siluria Shelby. 

Silver Run Talladega. 

Sipsey Turnpike.,.. ..Tuscaloosa. 

Sistrunk Macon. 

Six Mile.. , Bibb. 

Skipperville Dale. 

Slate Hill Randolph. 

Slater's Landing Choctaw. 

Smallwpod Tuscaloosa. 

Smith's Station Lee. 

Smithville..... Henry. 

Snowdown...... Montgomery. 

Snow Hill Wilcox. 

Society Hill Macon. 

Solomon's Mills Barbour. 

Somerville Morgan. 

Southern Marshall. 

South Florence Colbert. 

South Hill. DeKalb, 

South Lowell .....Walker. 

Sowell ...Conecuh. 

Sparta Conecuh. 

Spencer Fayette. 

fSpring Garden Cherokee. 

Spring Hill Mobile. 

Spring Valley ..Colbert. 

Springville St, Clair. 

Spruce Pine ....Franklin. 

Star Hill Barbour. 

Statesville Autauga. 

Steel's Depot St. Clair. 

Sterling ...Cherokee. 

Sterrett Shelby. 

fStevenson Jackson, 

Stewart's Station. ...Hale. 

Stewartsville Coosa. 

Stockton Baldwin. 

Stone ., Pickens. 

Stone Hill .......Cleburne. 

Stonewall Cherokee. 

Strasburgh ..Chilton. 

Strata Crenshaw. 

Sturdevant ...Tallapoosa, 

Suggsville Clarke. 

Summerfield ..Dallas. 

Summit .Blount. 

Sumterville ..Sumter, 

Suspension Bullock. 

Sweet Water , ....Marengo. 

Sycamore Talladega. 

Sykes' Mills Elmore. 

Sylacauga Talladega. 

Sylvan Tuscaloosa. 

f Talladega Talladega. 

Tallahatta Clarke. 

Tannehill Tuscaloosa. 

Tayloe's Station Perry. 

Taylor's..... Geneva. 



Name. County. 

Tecumseh Cherokee. 

Tensaw , Baldwin. 

Terrapin Hill .,„..,., Coosa. 

Texas Marion. 

Thomas' Station Bullock. 

Thompson Bullock. 

Thorn Hill Marion. 

Three Notch ...Bullock. 

Tilden Dallas. 

Tionus...... Bibb. 

Toad Vine Jefferson. 

Toledo...., ....Fayette. 

Toll Gate. ....Marion. 

Tompkinsville Choctaw. 

Town Creek ...Lawrence, 

Traveller's Rest ......Coosa. 

Trenton... .Tackson. 

Triana.,.....,.,. , ..Madison. 

Trinity Station Morgan. 

Trout Creek St. Clair. 

fTroy , Pike, 

Trussville Jefferson. 

Tryan Coffee. 

Tuscahoma Choctaw, 

f Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa. 

fTuscum,bia..., Colbert. 

fTuskegee Macon. 

TJchee Russell. 

Union Greene. 

t Union Springs Bullock. 

fUn ion town Perry. 

Valhermosa Spri'gs..Morgan. 

Valley Head DeKalb. 

Valley Mines.. DeKalb. 

Van Dorn Marengo. 

Vashti Clarke. 

Verbena Chilton. 

Vernon Lamar. 

Victoria Coffee. 

Vienna Pickens. 

Village Springs Blount. 

Vilhila Russell. 

Viola Blount. 

Waco Franklin. 

Wacoochee Lee. 

Waldo Talladega. 

Walnut Grove Etowah. 

Wain ut Hill Tallapoosa. 

Warren's Store Hale. 

Warrenton Marshall. 

Warrior Stand Macon. 

Warrior Station Jefferson. 

Warsaw Sumter. 

Waterloo.. Lauderdale. 

Waverly Lee, 

Weaver's Station... .Calhoun. 

Webster Fayette. 

Wedowee Randolph. 

Wehoga Cleburne. 



330 



POSTOFFICES IN ALABAMA.— Continued, 



Name. County. 

Weogufka Coosa. 

Wetona Jefferson. 

t Wetumpka Elmore. 

Wheeler Station Lawrence. 

Whistler Mobile. 

White Cloud Clay. 

White Hall Lowndes. 

White Oak Springs..Barbour. 

White Plains Calhoun. 

White Pond Barbour. 

Whitesburgh Madison. 

Whiting Escambia. 

Whitney St. Clair. 

Whiton DeKalb. 

Wilbourne Jackson. 

Williams' Mill Covington. 



Name. County. 

Williams Station Escambia. 

Wilmington Walker. 

Wilson Escambia. 

Wilsonville Shelby. 

Windham's Pickens. 

Wolf Creek St. Clair. 

Woodland Mills Morgan. 

Wood's Bluff. Clarke. 

Wood's Station Jefferson. 

Woodstock Bibb, 

Woodville Jackson. 

Wooten.. Blount. 

Wyi nville Blount. 

Yongsboro Lee. 

York Walker. 

York Station Sumter, 



Omission. 



stations. 



THE SELMA AND GULF RAILROAD. 

Dist. Stations. Dist. Stations. 



Selma King's Landing 15 Minter's 

Cleveland 6 Pleasant Hill 20 Snow Hill.. 

Joaies' 8 Warrenton 21 AUenton 

Mush Creek 12 Dawson's 23 Pine Apple. 



Bist. 

25 

30 

35 

40 



INDEX. 



Abbreviations, names States and Territories 308 

Actions, Civil 40 

Agricultural and Mechanical College 58 61 

Agricultural Advantages, Alabama 248-55 

Capabilities, Alabama 248-55 

Divisions , Alabama 248 55 

Alabama, A gricultural and Mechanical College .58-61 

A gricultural Advantages 248-55 

Agricultural Capabilities , 248-55 

Agricultural Divisions , 248-55 

Altitudes in 30 6 

Area of 2 

Books descriptive of 306 

Boundaries of 1-2 

Cities of 3 

Climate of 284-93 

Coal of 256-59 

Coal Mines of 259-62 

Collectors Customs in 302 

Collectors Revenue in 302 

Colleges 53 

Congressmen 302 

Congressional Districts , 307 

Constitution of IX-SXXIX 

Consuls in 303 

Cotton Manufacturing in. ........ < 268-76 

Cotton MiUs 277-78 

Counties 21,303 

County Seats 21, 303 

Deal , Dumb and Blind Institute ...,61-3 

Debt of 305 

Election Laws , 25-6 

Executive Department , 14-16,298 

Executive officers ....14-16,298 

Express Facilities 128 

Federal Judges in i 302 

Fish of 281 

Forests of 221-35 

Game of 281 

General Assembly 14, 299-302 

Geology of ..129-196 

Government of 12,298-302 

Grasses of 236-47 

Health of 284-93 

Historical Chronology of 4-11 

Histories of 306 

Important Statutes of 35-43 

Indians of 11 

Insane Hospital 65-8 

Iron of 262-65 ' 

Iron Works of 266-67 

Islands of 2 

Judicial Power of 16-21 

Judicial Officers 298-99 



33^ ind:K±. 

Alabama, Land Oflacers In 3qj^ 

Land Districts in 302 

Landings in 310-16 

, Latitude of 2 

Legislative Department 14 299-302 

Legislature , Members of 299-302 

License Laws 32-35 



Lime of 



279 



Lime Works , 279-80 

Lines, Water Transportation 89-113 

Longitude of _ 2 

Medical College „ , g3.5 

Mineral Springs.. ..w. 293-4 

Mineral Waters , 293-4 

. Money Order Offices.. 228 322-30 

Mountain Ranges of , ' ^ 

Name of , 

Newspapers in... " -qa 

Normal 'Schools of ..'..'."!.""!" '3O-2 

Penitentiary ."68-73 

Political Divisions of oak 

Population of 2 304 

Postal Facilities. , ' ■. 07 s 

Post Offices in. V.V.'.V.V.V.'.V.V.'.V.V.'.'. 322 - 30 

Poultry in , 281 

Principal towns o^ , .".*.'"" 3 

Projected Canals in ' ,13 

Public Schools of 44-50 

Kaih-oads, Sketches of ,.'.'.'.".".*.".'.'.* .114-27 

Railroads, Stations on ,, . *3i6*-'20 330 

Revenue Collectorsin *.'.'.'.*.'.'. ' 302 

Revenue Districts in , _ 3Q2 

Rivers, List of 

Rivers, Sketches of .■ ..'..'..'.'.'.'.'... ""92-II3 

Rivers, Landings on ....,....'."." 310-16 

Seal of. Great , .'.........'., 298 

Sea Coast of * •••••• 

Senators of. State. ....,...,. ." ] " " 299 

Senators of, United States .........'.'...,', 302 

Sheep Husbandry in ' " 231 

^^^^^^ot , '.^^ .'."'''*."■."■*■ ■■.■■.■■';'';;;;;228-35 

Soils Of^ •.•:•••■• 197-220 

Stock Raising in... — 280-1 

Tax Laws of ._. 27-35 

Telegraph Facilities of , '..'.'.'.'..'.'..'.'.'.'.'.'" 128 

Topograpy of !.!!!..!!.".!!!!] 2 

Trade Statistics of 282 3 

^«^« «^- : • • •; '.'.■■.■.:;;.■.■.■;.■.■.■;.■..■;.■. ■.■;.'.v;;.'.228-35 

Universities in , _ _ _ 

University of 34.8 

Vegetables of 

Water Transportation Lines of '_'/_ 89-113 

Alabama Central Raili-oad, Sketch of •-.■-■. ■ 

■ JLlO-D 

Stations on o-.g 

Alabama Great Southern Raihoad, Sketch of .........'. il6 -7 

Stations on 31 g 

Alabama River, Sketch of ...,..., , . ; „„_ 



Landings on ^ 

••• • 40 



• .....310-12 

Alienage, Law of 



Altitudes in Alabama 

Appeals, Law of a^ 

Area of Alabama..... ^ 



Attorney General 15 298 

Auditor ,.. ^s', 298 

Bailey Springs 293 

Birmingham , Sketch of 84-6 

Black Warrior Eiver, Sketch of 97-9 

Landings on..., 314-5 

Bladon Springs , 294 

Blind Institute , , 61-3 

Blount Springs , 293 

Books descriptive of Alabama 306 

Boundaries of Alaoama 1-2 

Business Laws of Alabama 36 

Cahaba River, Sketch of 99-100 

Canal, Guntersville and Gadsden ,. 113 

Canal, Squaw Shoals 113 

Canal, Tennessee and Tombigbee Elvers . . H3 

Chancery Courts 17-18 

Chancery Districts 17, 307 {Note.) 

Chancery Divisions 17, 307 (.Note.) 

Chancellors 298 

Chattahoochee Eiver, Sketch of 111-12 

Landings on 316 

Ohoctawhatchee Eiver 112 

Chronology, Historical of Alabama 4-11 

Circuit Courts 17 

Circuit Clerks 21-2 

Circuit Judges. 299 

Circuits, Judicial 17, 307 (Note.) 

Cities of Alabama 3 

Civil Actions 40 

Clearances, Mobile 283 

Climate of Alabama , ....284-93 

Coal of Alabama , 256-9 

Coal Mines of Alabama 259-62 

Coast of Alabama ,. ........ 2 

Code, Miscellaneous Provisions of 35 

Coins, Value of 307 

Collectors, Customs in Alabama 302 

Collectors, Internal Eevenue in Alabama. 303 

Colleges, Alabama 53 

College, Agricultural and Mechanical 58-61 

College, Alabama Medical 63-5 

Conclusion 295-7 

Congressmen, Alabama 302 

Congi-essional Districts , 25 , 307 

Constables 22 

Constitution of Alabama ... IX-XXXIX 

Consuls in Alabama. 303 

Contracts, Immigrants'.... 42 

To be in Writing 37 

Void 36 

Conveyances, of Homestead , 42 

Law of 37-8 

Coosa Eiver, Sketch of......... .........100-5 

Landings on , . 315 

Coroner ., ,.,., 22-3 

Corporations 42-3 

Costs , 41 

Cotton Manufacturing in Alabama 268 -76 

Mills in Alabama 277-78 

„ Receipts at Mobile for 61 years 282 

Counties. ....24, 303 



334 



Il^^DEX. 



County Courts 20 

County Commissioners 21 

Organization 21-4 

Seats , 21, 303 

Superintendent of Education 23 

Surveyor „ 23 

Treasurer 23 

Courts, Chancery 17-18 

Ciicuit 17 

County , 20 

Commissioners 20-1 

Justices of the Peace 19-20 

Probate - .18-19 

Court, Supreme 16, 298 

Cullman, Sketch of 86-88 

Debt, of Alabama 305 

Deaf Institute, Alabama •. — 61-3 

Declaration of Eights 12 

Descents, Law of > 39 

Distances, Miscellaneous 309 

Prom Mobile 306 

From Montgomery 306 

Distributions , Law of 39 

Districts, Chancery 17, 307 {Note.) 

Congressional 25, 307 

Customs 302 

Internal Revenue 302 

Land . 302 

Senatorial 24, 307 (iVote.) 

Divisions, Chancery 17, 307 {Note.) 

Dower, Law of 38-9 

Dumb Institute, Alabama .... 61-3 

East Alabama and Cincinnati Railroad, Sketch of 117 

Stations on 316 

Education, Superintendent of 16,46 , 298 

County Supei-intendent of.... 46-7 

Election Laws, Alabama 25-6 

Entrances, Mobile 283 

Escambia River 112 

Estate , Wife ' s Separate 39-40 

Executive Department 14-16,298 

Evidence, Rules of 40-1 

Exemption, Laws 41 

How Waived 41 

Exports, from Mobile 282 

Express Facilities, Alabama 128 

Fish, in Alabama 281 

Trade. Mobile 283 

Forests, of Alabama • 221-35 

Foreign Coins, Value of 307 

Fruit Growing, in Alabama 230 

Fund, School 48 

Game, in Alabama 281 

General Assembly, Organization of 14 

Members of 299-302 

Geology, of Alabama 129-196 

Governor 15, 298 

Government of Alabama 12-21 

Executive Department 298 

Judicial Depai-tment , 298-9 

Legislative Department — 299- 302 

Grain, Weight of .* 308 



INDEX. 335 



Grasses, of Alabama „ 236-47 

GuntersvUle and Gadsden Canal 113 

Health, of Alabama 284-93 

Healing Springs 294 

Histories, of Alabama 306 

History, Chronological, of Alabama, , 4-11 

Homestead, Conveyance of 42 

Exemption of 41 

Liens on 42 

Mortgage of 42 

H6spital, Alabama Insane 65-8 

House of Kepresentatives, Organization of 14 

Members of ....300 2 

Huntsville , Sketch of 82-4 

Imports, at Mobile 282^ 

Immigrants, Contracts 42 

Indians, of Alabama 11 

Insane Hospital, Alabama ... . 65-8 

Internal Revenue Collectors 302 

Districts 302 

Iron, of Alabama 262-5 

"Works, Alabama 265-67 

Islands, of Alabama 2 

Jackson Springs 293 

Judges, Circuit , 299 

Federal 302 

Supreme Court • 298 

Judicial Power of Alabama , 16-21 

Department of Alabama <- 298-99 

Judge of Probate 21 

Justices of the Peace 19-20,21 

Land, Districts in Alabama 302 

Officers in Alabama 302 

Redemption of .*. 32, 40 

Sold for Taxes 32 

Landings, Alabama River 310-12 

Chattahoochee River 316 

Coosa River 315 

Little Tombigbee River 313-14 

Mobile River 310 

Tennessee River 315 

Tombigbee River 315 

Warrior , , 314-15 

Latltvide of Alabama , 2 

Laws , Alabama Business 36 

Legislature, Organization of 14 

Members of..... 299-302 

Licenses 32-5 

Liens, on Homestead 42 

Lien Laws 42 

Lime, of Alabama 279 

Works of Alabama 279 - 80 

Little Tombigbee River, Sketch of 96 

Landings on 313-4 

Livingston "Water 293 

Longitude, of Alabama o 2 

Manufacturing, Cotton, in Alabama 268-76 

Measures , Miscellaneous. 309 

Medical DoUege, of Alabama 63-5 

Memphis and Charleston Raih-oad, Sketch of 117-8 

Stations on 317 

Mines, Alabama Coal 259-6^ 



33^ 



INDEX. 



Mills, Alabama Oottoii, 277-8 

Mineral Springs, Alabama 293>1 

Waters, Alabama 293-4 

Mississippi, GainesYille and Tuscaloosa Railroad, Sketch of 118 

Stations on 317 

Mobile, Bay of 90-2 

Clearances at 283 

Cotton Receipts at, for 61 years 282 

Distances from 306 

Entrances at 283 

Exports from 2^2 

Fisb Trade 283 

Imports .282 

Oyster Trade 283 

River, Sketch of 92-3 

Landings on 310 

Mobile City , Sketch of 73-7 

Mobile and Alabama Grand Trunk Railroad, Sketch of 118-9 

Stations on 317 

Mobile and Girard Railroad, Sketch of 119 

Stations on 317 

Mobile and Montgomery Railroad , Sketch of 12 1 - 2 

Stations on 318 

M|obile and Ohio Railroad, Sketch of 119-21 

Stations on 317-18 

Money, U. 8 307 

Order Offlces in Alabama 322-30 

Montgomery, distances from 306 

Sketch of .• : 77-81 

and Eufaula Railroad, Sketch of 122 

Stations on, 318 

Mortgages, of Homestead — 42 

Mountain ranges in Alabama 2 

Name , of Alabama * 1 

Names of States and Territories, abbreviations 308 

Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railroad, Sketch of 122-3 

Stations on 318 

Nashville and Decatur Railroad, Sketch of 123 

Stations on 318 

Newspapers, in Alabama 304 

New Orleans and Mobile Railroad, Sketch of 123 

Stations on 319 

New Orleans and Selma Railroad, Sketch of 123-4 

Stations on 319 

Normal Schools, of Alabama » 50-2 

Office, Oath of 26 

"WTio may hold 26 

Officers, Elected in Alabama 25 

Land In Alabama 302 

Oyster Trade, Mobile • ■ 283 

Partnerships, Limited 42-3 

Peace, Justices of the • 19-20-21 

Penitentiary, Alabama , 68-72 

Pensacola Railroad • 124 

Pleadiugsln Alabama ..'. 40 

Political divisions, of Alabama •••. 24 

Population , of Alabama * • 2 , 304 

Postal facilities , Alabama 127 

Postoffiees , in Alabama. — 322-30 

Poultry, in Alabama * 281 

Pratt Gin Company • 280 

Principal Towns, of Alabama i 



INDEX. 



337 



Probate Courts 18-19 

Px'obate Judge 21 

Produce, Weight of 308 

Public Schools, of Alabama 44-50 

Eailroads , of Alabam a 114-27 

Railroad Stations , in Alabama 316-320 

Redemption, of Lands 32 40 

Registration of Voters 26 

Representatives, House of , ^ 14 300 -2 

Revenue , School 48-9 

Rivers, of Alabama 3 92-112 

River Landings, in Alabama 310-316 

Savannah and Memphis Raili'oad, Sketch of 124 

Stations on 319 

School, Fund 48 

Revenue 48-9 

Trustees i 47-8 

Schools, ^formal, of Alabama , 50 2 

Public , of Alabama , 44-50 

Sea Coast, of Alabama 2 

Seal, of Alabama 298 

Secretary of State 15, 298 

Selma Sketch of 81-2 

Sehna and Gulf Railroad, Sketch of 124 

Stations on 330 

Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad, Sketch of 125 

Stations on............. 319 

Selma, Rome and Dalton Railroad, Sketch of ..... 125 

Stations on ....... 319 

Senate, Organization of ..................................... . I't 

Members of 299 

Senators, State 399 

United States • 302 

Senatorial Districts ...24, 307 (.Vo<e.) 

Separate Estate, Wife's 39-40 

Sheep Husbandi-y, in Alabama 281 

Shelby Springs.... 293 



Sheriff 



22 



Shinibs , in A labam a — • • • 228 - 35 

Sipsey River 112 

SoUs, of labama 197-220 

South and North Alabama Ralli-oad, Sketch of ... • .125.6 

Stations on 319 

South-western Railroad. — ......................... — — • • • - • • 126 

Springs, .^ labama Mineral... ...................«* .-293 -4 

Squaw Shoals, Canal ........................ «. ..». .* 113 

Stations, Alabama Railroad.................... 4............ .................. 316 -20, 330 

Statistics, .Alabama Trade ...282-3 

State , Organization of 14 • 21 

States, ibbreviations of Names. 308 

Stock Raising, in Alabama 280-1 

Sulphur Springs 293 

Supreme Court ..16,298 

Superintendent of Education ................16, 46, 298 

County.. ,i......... ..23, 46 

Surveyor, County...... .4....................... «. ••• 23 

Tax Asssessor 23 

Collector 23 

Laws of Alabama. ....................... ........ i , ..s ...................... 27 - 35 

TaUadega Springs................................... * ' ■^^^ 

Telegiliph Facilities, of Alabama i... ^ .-. ^28 

Teixnessee itiver Sketch of ..........oBoe.. ...... ......... .".ft.. ••...*.•.•**. *•*•*•*''• 



INDEX. K. 

Tennessee River, Landings on 315 ,^ 

Tennessee and Tombigbee Rivers Canal 113 ^ 

Territories, abbreviation names 308 

Tombigbee River, Sketeb of »95-6 

Landings on 313-4 

Tombigbee River, Little, Sketch of ; 96 

Landings on 313-4 

Topography, of Alabama. 2 

Towns, Principal of Alabama 3 

Trade, Statistics ^ 282-3 

Treasurer , County .■. , 23 

State 15-298 

Trees, in Alabama ,. , ...228-35 

Trustees, School 47-8 

Tuskegee Railroad 126 

Universities, of Alabama... , 53 

University, of Alabama 54-8 

U. S. Money , ,. ,. 307 

Senators.. , 302 

Vegetables, in Alabama , 281 

Vicksburg and Brunswick Railroad, Sketch of .....126-7 

Stations on , 320 

Void, Contracts.. 36 

Voters, Registration of 26 

Vote, who may ,„„ _ as 

Warrior River, Sketch of , 97-9 

Landings on........ ....314-15 

Waters, Alabama, Mineral ., , 293-4 

Weights, of Grain and Produce 308 

Miscellaneous. , 308 

Western Railroad, Sketch of 127 

Stations on..... ...,., = , 320 

Wife's Separate Estate „. „„.., 39-40 

Wills, Law of......... , ...„ „.,„„.,„„.. 39 








Bern EYS Hand Book of Alabama 

byEtt&enjs A.Smitil, Ps. JD . 

state geologist _ 
In^aTed and Pmite d±a Colors "by 
&:w:& CB.COLTOIf & C9 NE^W" YOKE, 1878. 



^C)*^-^ 




^^^mm 



- ) 



i 



